Twitter refocuses on Instagram, adds photo-tagging to Android app

By Kate Knibbs Published January 28, 2014

twitter adds facebook style photo tagging to android app on — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Twitter added an update to its Android app this week that will make posting photos to the micro-blogging service a better experience.

The Twitter update introduces a new suite of photo-editing options, like cropping according to aspect, and rotating images. The new tool also prompts users to tag their friends with the @ symbol.

In addition to the photo tools, the update also gives Android users a selection of recommended tweets, trending topics, and users to follow if they try to refresh their feed and there’s nothing new (although, how often does that happen?). Users in the U.S. will also see TV, sports, and news events updates.

Twitter noted that the update is coming to iPhone in the future, so this appears to be the impending standard for the mobile app.

This decision to introduce new photo tools underscores Twitter’s desire to compete with Instagram. When Twitter began, the emphasis was on text-based communication, and in many ways Twitter still privileges words in a way its competitors do not. Twitter already offers some photo-editing tools, but these adjustments will help it compete with Instagram as a photo-sharing destination. Of course, Twitter did something similar (adding filters to compete with Instagram) back in 2012, and it didn’t really work. The company will need to make more substantial layout changes if it wants to become a primary place to share photos.

The Android update’s @-symbol prompting, in particular, resembles the tagging function on Instagram and Facebook. It will be harder to get Twitter users to tag their friends, since @-mentions count toward the 140-character limit. Tagging a group photo, for instance, wouldn’t work.

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Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…

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