New Twitter Features Released
Twitter has been on a streak of releasing new features this week. Before you get your hopes up, no, they did not add an edit button yet. But at least one of the new features has gotten a lot of positive feedback so far.
Twitter continues to make changes to stay relevant and remain atop the social media superiority list. New audio features, removing image cropping and adding a way for creators to earn money are setting Twitter up to succeed for the foreseeable future.
Let’s get into the three new features, starting with the one that got the most people talking.
No more image cropping on iOS and Android
For those who take pictures in portrait layout, you can now celebrate because your pictures will no longer be cropped in the mobile app.
Now of course with this new update, it ruins all those “open for surprise” posts, but I think we’ll survive. As soon as the update was announced, people took to posting portrait layout photos they’ve been “waiting forever” to post on Twitter.
This led to a lot of great photos, memes and even big brands jumping in on the fun. Check out these replies from Bush’s Beans, The Home Depot and Aflac. If you want some more funny replies, check out the full replies on Twitter’s post.
Beyond the fun the first few hours brought seeing all the taller photos and memes, this update is super beneficial. Sometimes photos just look better in portrait layout. And now we won’t be punished for it by Twitter’s cropping.
It is important to note though that this update is for iOS and Android only. For those who scroll through Twitter on a computer, you’ll still see the cropped version of the photo.
Spaces released to all users
Spaces isn’t a completely new feature, it is now available to all users on iOS and Android devices. Announced on May 3, all users can now tune in to the audio chat feature similar to Clubhouse.
“From Tweeting to talking, reading to listening, Spaces encourages and unlocks real, open conversations on Twitter with the authenticity and nuance, depth and power only the human voice can bring,” Twitter said in their announcement.
While anyone can join in to listen or request to speak, hosting a Space is only available to profiles with 600+ followers. Twitter’s reasoning for this is because “Based on what we’ve learned so far, these accounts are likely to have a good experience hosting live conversations because of their existing audience.”
It sounds like hosting Spaces may be available to more users after further testing of this larger rollout.
While it’s still a newer feature, Twitter is committed to making Spaces accessible for everyone. Captions and labels are already features in Spaces, but they’ve committed to making them even better as time goes on.
Even if you aren’t big on talking to strangers live on social media, I encourage you to listen in to different Spaces to see what it’s all about. If you need a more in-depth breakdown of how Twitter Spaces works, check out Twitter’s website.
New way to support creators on Twitter
Twitter introduced Tip Jar on May 6, giving users a new way to support their favorite creators, journalists, nonprofits and more.
“Tip Jar is an easy way to support the incredible voices that make up the conversation on Twitter. This is a first step in our work to create new ways for people to receive and show support on Twitter – with money.”
Only a limited number of users can set up Tip Jar for their accounts in this first release. Those users include creators, journalists, experts and nonprofits. However, anyone using Twitter in English can send money to those applicable accounts now.
Ways to pay currently include Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal and Venmo. You can also leave tips directly in Spaces on Android.
While it’s still in the early stages, Tip Jar is another way for Twitter to stay relevant and compete with other big name social media platforms that already offer monetization options. I’ll be interested to see who all is given access to receive tips down the road.
The new features from Twitter are promising to see. Personally, Twitter is my most used social media platform, so it’s encouraging that they are making some changes that benefit users, while not completely changing their platform.
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