Twitpic
Encyclopedia
TwitPic is a website
that allows users to easily post pictures to the Twitter
microblogging
and social media
service. TwitPic is often used by citizen journalists to upload and distribute pictures in near real-time as an event is taking place.
In an interview with Mixergy, Noah Everett revealed that he had been offered a price within the region of 10 million US dollars for his company but he declined the offer.
. However, several characteristics make this site a companion for Twitter.
TwitPic usernames and passwords are the same as the ones in Twitter.
Comments to photographs are sent as a reply tweet.
TwitPic URLs are already short, making it unnecessary to use URL shortening
. Anyone with a Twitter account can post pictures to the site. This has the disadvantage of anyone being able to post pornographic, obscene or objectionable material, although this is prohibited by the terms of use.
As of May 2011, Twitpic altered their Terms of Use, allowing them to distribute the photographs people have uploaded to their ´Affiliates´. Twitpic however refuses to state who these affiliates may be, and what they gain by distributing said pictures. This has triggered a public outcry by users, who do not wish their pictures to be sold by Twitpic, while Twitpic also gets credit for the image, and the photographer who did the actual work gets nothing. As a result, people have begun boycotting Twitpic and removing all of their images. Twitpic addressed these concerns in a blog post, claiming that the changes in terms had been misinterpreted.
, Echofon, Tweetie
, Twitfile, and Twitterrific
are iPhone
applications that can upload photos from iPhones to TwitPic.
ÜberTwitter, OpenBeak and Twitter for BlackBerry are BlackBerry
apps that also have the capability of uploading images to TwitPic. WebOS phones may upload images to TwitPic using the Tweed application. Android phones can upload pictures to TwitPic with the Twidroid and Seesmic
applications. Windows Phone
devices can upload pictures to TwitPic with the TouchTwit application. All INQ
mobile phones have the capability of uploading a picture straight after it has been taken; this is due to the social networking nature of the phone.
Both the official Twitter for Android and Twitter for iPhone applications feature TwitPic as an option for sending pictures to Twitter (the other option offered by both applications is yfrog
).
According to a report by Sysomos
, as of 30th May 2011, TwitPic is the leading third-party image hosting service for Twitter. Of around 2.25 million daily image shares on Twitter, 45.7% come from TwitPic. Twitter announced partnership with Photobucket to be the default photo sharing application on 1st June, which may significantly affect TwitPic's market share.
experienced multiple bird strike
s and had to be ditched
in the Hudson River
after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport
in New York City
. A passenger on one of the ferries that rushed to help took a picture of the downed plane as passengers were still evacuating and tweeted it via TwitPic before traditional media arrived at the scene. The TwitPic service crashed as thousands of people tried to access the photo at the same time.
TwitPic also crashed on 1 April 2009 as a result of the huge number of photos (and people visiting these photos) being posted from the G20 protests in London.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that allows users to easily post pictures to the Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
microblogging
Microblogging
Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...
and social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
service. TwitPic is often used by citizen journalists to upload and distribute pictures in near real-time as an event is taking place.
History
TwitPic was launched in 2008 by Noah Everett.In an interview with Mixergy, Noah Everett revealed that he had been offered a price within the region of 10 million US dollars for his company but he declined the offer.
Description
TwitPic could be used independently of Twitter, in a way similar to FlickrFlickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
. However, several characteristics make this site a companion for Twitter.
TwitPic usernames and passwords are the same as the ones in Twitter.
Comments to photographs are sent as a reply tweet.
TwitPic URLs are already short, making it unnecessary to use URL shortening
URL shortening
URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator may be made substantially shorter in length and still direct to the required page. This is achieved by using an HTTP Redirect on a domain name that is short, which links to the web page that has a long URL...
. Anyone with a Twitter account can post pictures to the site. This has the disadvantage of anyone being able to post pornographic, obscene or objectionable material, although this is prohibited by the terms of use.
As of May 2011, Twitpic altered their Terms of Use, allowing them to distribute the photographs people have uploaded to their ´Affiliates´. Twitpic however refuses to state who these affiliates may be, and what they gain by distributing said pictures. This has triggered a public outcry by users, who do not wish their pictures to be sold by Twitpic, while Twitpic also gets credit for the image, and the photographer who did the actual work gets nothing. As a result, people have begun boycotting Twitpic and removing all of their images. Twitpic addressed these concerns in a blog post, claiming that the changes in terms had been misinterpreted.
Related applications
TweetDeckTweetDeck
TweetDeck is an Adobe AIR desktop application for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Foursquare, and MySpace. Like other Twitter applications it interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets and view profiles...
, Echofon, Tweetie
Tweetie
Twitter is a client for Twitter, the social networking website. There is a mobile version that runs on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and a desktop version runs on Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard ....
, Twitfile, and Twitterrific
Twitterrific
Twitterrific is a Mac OS X and iOS client for the social networking site Twitter. The client, created by The Iconfactory, lets users view in real time "tweets" or micro-blog posts on the Twitter website as well as publish their own.-Added value:...
are iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
applications that can upload photos from iPhones to TwitPic.
ÜberTwitter, OpenBeak and Twitter for BlackBerry are BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
apps that also have the capability of uploading images to TwitPic. WebOS phones may upload images to TwitPic using the Tweed application. Android phones can upload pictures to TwitPic with the Twidroid and Seesmic
Seesmic
Seesmic is a suite of freeware web, mobile, and desktop applications which allow users to simultaneously manage user accounts for multiple social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter....
applications. Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
devices can upload pictures to TwitPic with the TouchTwit application. All INQ
INQ
INQ is a mobile phone manufacturer, headquartered in London with offices in Rome, San Francisco, Beijing and Hong Kong, Toronto, Seattle, Singapore and Delhi....
mobile phones have the capability of uploading a picture straight after it has been taken; this is due to the social networking nature of the phone.
Both the official Twitter for Android and Twitter for iPhone applications feature TwitPic as an option for sending pictures to Twitter (the other option offered by both applications is yfrog
Yfrog
yfrog is an image hosting service run by ImageShack. It has many things in common with ImageShack, and is designed primarily to allow users to share their photographs and videos as links on the Twitter microblogging platform.-History and features:...
).
According to a report by Sysomos
Sysomos
Sysomos Inc. is a Toronto-based social media analytics company.The company uses content of social media sites including blogs, forums and Twitter to create a real-time picture on how products, people, and brands are covered in those media sites. Unlike other similar services, it also attempts to...
, as of 30th May 2011, TwitPic is the leading third-party image hosting service for Twitter. Of around 2.25 million daily image shares on Twitter, 45.7% come from TwitPic. Twitter announced partnership with Photobucket to be the default photo sharing application on 1st June, which may significantly affect TwitPic's market share.
In media
In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549US Airways Flight 1549
US Airways Flight 1549 was US Airways' scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina...
experienced multiple bird strike
Bird strike
A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, avian ingestion , bird hit, or BASH —is a collision between an airborne animal and a man-made vehicle, especially aircraft...
s and had to be ditched
Water landing
A water landing is, in the broadest sense, any landing on a body of water. All waterfowl, those seabirds capable of flight, and some human-built vehicles are capable of landing in water as a matter of course....
in the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. A passenger on one of the ferries that rushed to help took a picture of the downed plane as passengers were still evacuating and tweeted it via TwitPic before traditional media arrived at the scene. The TwitPic service crashed as thousands of people tried to access the photo at the same time.
TwitPic also crashed on 1 April 2009 as a result of the huge number of photos (and people visiting these photos) being posted from the G20 protests in London.