WebProNews

Tag: twitter cards

  • Twitter Shows Users More Details About Web Content In Their Timelines

    Twitter Shows Users More Details About Web Content In Their Timelines

    Summary Cards can be used for various types of web content including blog posts, news articles, products, etc. It gives the user a preview of the content before they click through to the website.

    Twitter has now updated the cards so that people using the Twitter app for iOS and Android will start seeing a little bit more information about the content people are sharing with them through links.

    As others have pointed out, the update essentially makes the link sharing experience a little more like Facebook and other social networks.

    Anything that can help your content stand out in people’s Twitter timelines should help in the traffic referral and engagement departments. I don’t see any reason why anyone producing content shouldn’t take advantage of this. It’s just a matter of inserting some simple meta tags into your website’s HTML.

    Screen shot 2015-07-15 at 9.03.26 AM

    Keep in mind that Google is utilizing more and more tweets in its search results too, and tweets with more engagement are probably more likely to show up.

    Twitter recently deprecated its Product Cards, and instead points product links to Summary Cards.

    Images via Twitter

  • Twitter Wants Celebs to Stop Posting Instagram Links

    Twitter wants celebrities and other high-profile users to know that Twitter has its own photo editing tools and that they should be using those, and posting photos natively via Twitter – not just cross posting their Instagram photos to Twitter.

    That’s just lazy. Plus, they don’t even show up, remember?

    This has been a common sight on Twitter for a little over two years:

    Of course, Twitter users sure would like to see that Wednesday night bro-down with Adele, but they can’t. That’s because Instagram disabled Twitter integration in December of 2012, making it so that Twitter cannot display Instagram photos when those links are posted. At the time, some wondered whether that was a smart move for Instagram – rooting themselves out of Twitter in an attempt to keep people inside their own garden. But two years later, Instagram’s doing just fine.

    Now, Twitter is taking action to try to rid the service of all those photo-less Instagram links. Mashable obtained screenshots of some prompts Twitter recently sent out to “a group of notable users in media, entertainment, sports and other categories”, urging them to “post their photos directly on Twitter to make sure their fans always see them”.

    The visual aid shows the difference between a tweet with an Instagram link and one with nice big native Twitter photo attached.

    Will it work? Who knows. It’s really convenient to simply tap the cross-post the Twitter button when posting on Instagram. Hey, at least some celebs are complying.

    Image via Lady Gaga, Twitter

  • Twitter Launches Card Analytics Dashboard

    Twitter Launches Card Analytics Dashboard

    Twitter announced the launch of a new analytics offering for Twitter Cards today, aimed at helping publishers, marketers and developers understand how certain types of cards they’re using are performing.

    That includes tweets with pictures, videos, content previews, deep links for apps, and other rich media Tweets.

    Now for the first time you can gain insight into how your content is performing on Twitter, and find personalized tips to help make more strategic decisions about your use of Cards,” says analytics product manager Buster Benson. “Along the way, you’ll get insights on how to do even better. Small changes –– using a different Twitter Card, conversing more with the followers who love your content, or installing or changing the location of a Tweet button –– can make a big difference.”

    Twitter Card Analytics

    Twitter Cards

    Users will also be able to see how Twitter users engage with all of their tweets and get insight into their followers (including follower growth rate) in the Twitter Card analytics dashboard.

    Twitter tested the offering with a handful of partners including BuzzFeed, NBC News, Time, ESPN, MLB, Flipboard, Etsy, Foursquare and Path.

    All card users and advertisers should be getting the new dashboard over the next few days.

    Images via Twitter

  • View Instagram Photos on Twitter with This Chrome Extension

    As you may remember, Instagram had a little spat with Twitter that resulted in Instagram disabling all photo integration with Twitter. What that means for Twitter users is that they are no longer able to view Instagram photos when they click to “expand” tweets.

    Instead, users have to click the link inside the tweet to be taken to Instagram.com to view the photos. At the time, Instagram said that it was “the correct thing for our business to do at this time,” and it may have been. But in the end, it’s the users of both services that ended up suffering.

    Anyway, there’s a new Chrome extension you may be interested in if you want to bring back Instagram photos (or at least thumbnail previews) to Twitter.

    It’s called Previeweet, and it’s a simple extension that adds thumbnail preview images to nearly every tweet containing photos.

    Apart from photo previews from Instagram, you’ll also see them from a bunch of other image services like Dribbble, Twitter (pic.twitter.com), Photobucket, Facebook, Apple, Yfrog, Twitpic, Twitvid, Flickr, Imgur.

    With all of the other services (that still have Twitter Card support), clicking on the image itself will open up the image, larger, in an expanded tweet – just like it would if you clicked “expand” instead. But for the Instagram photos, clicking on the thumbnail will take you to the photo’s home on Instagram.com, the same way it would if you clicked the Instagram link instead. So, it’s not perfect, but it does give you a small preview of the photo so you will get a better idea of whether or not you want to click out to Instagram’s site to view it full size.

    All you have to do is install the Chrome extension and fire up Twitter. Previeweet warns that due to the twitter cache, you may need to clear the browser cache to get the preview to appear.

    [via AllTwitter]

  • GetGlue Content Comes to Expanded Tweets

    GetGlue Content Comes to Expanded Tweets

    Social TV and movie-watching app GetGlue has joined the growing lists of apps and sites that have enabled Twitter Cards, meaning that GetGlue content will show up in Twitter’s Expanded Tweets.

    “Now, when you share and see GetGlue links in Tweets, you can get an enhanced visual experience. When users click ‘expand’ on a Tweet with a link to GetGlue, the shared content, such as a show description or movie information, is seen directly within the Tweet,” says GetGlue in a blog post.

    The Expanded Tweets not only feature a short description of the media in question, but also contain a thumbnail as well as a link to GetGlue’s Twitter account.

    Clicking on the Expanded Tweets takes you to the show or movie’s official GetGlue page, where you can browse the current conversation.

    GetGlue joins apps like Foursquare and sites like CNN and The New York Times in enabling Expanded Tweets content. Back in December, Instagram famously disabled its Twitter Cards integration, forcing users to click links and visit the Instagram site to view photos cross-posted to Twitter. Just a few days after that, Pinterest added support for Twitter Cards.

  • Pinterest Further Integrates with Twitter as Instagram Bows Out

    While one popular social network’s relationship with Twitter is souring (well, it’s already pretty sour), another is expanding their relationship in a way that will delight users of both services.

    Pinterest has officially added support for Twitter Cards, meaning that Twitter users’ cross-posts from Instagram are now able to be expanded into media-rich “cards.” More succinctly put, your Pinterest photos are now visible on Twitter. The Daily Dot confirms that Pinterest added the Twitter Cards support last week, just as Instagram was pulling it’s support.

    As you probably know, Instagram wound up going further in dismantling its relationship with Twitter. A few days after revoking Twitter Cards support (which made inline photos in expanded tweets appear cropped), Instagram cut off all ties with Twitter. All Instagram photos are now gone from Twitter – both the stream and in photo galleries. Users can still post Instagram links within their tweets, of course, but in order to see the photos users will have to click the link and navigate away from Twitter.

    Pinterest, on the other hand, is integrating even more into Twitter by allowing shared photos to appear in users’ expanded tweets. Pins will not show up in Twitter’s “recent images” widget, however.

    Here’s an example of what you’ll see in an expanded tweet when a user tweets out a pin:

    Pinterest integrates with Twitter Cards

    As Twitter and Instagram continue to beef, Pinterest is making a move that shows it’s not worried about losing visitors to its site. Expanded, media-rich tweets are a great addition to Twitter and the more social media sites that allow for integration, the better it is for users.

  • Your Instagram Photos Look Terrible on Twitter Because Instagram Wants You to Use Instagram

    Instagram has always wanted to be more than a place to filter your photos. That’s why your Instagram app has a news stream. That’s why you have the ability to like and comment on other users’ photos. Instagram is its own social network – not just a service to make your posts on other social networks more interesting.

    That’s why it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that Instagram just disabled its Twitter cards integration, the result of which is non-optimal, poorly cropped photos appearing in users’ Twitter streams.

    Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom immediately addressed the Twitter snub as he took the stage at the LeWeb conference today. According to The Verge, he apologized for the shift being “confusing” to users, but made no apologies for doing what he thinks is best for Instagram.

    Systrom said that pulling the integration was “the correct thing for our business to do at this time.” But he also said that Instagram and Twitter are peachy and that Instagram will always be integrated with Twitter.

    So you’ll always be able to easily cross-post your Instagram photos to Twitter, but they’re just going to look crappy in that format.

    Of course, what Systrom wants is for Instagram users to, well, use Instagram. Not just the mobile app, mind you, but Instagram’s brand new web profiles that they launched early last month. With the new web profiles, users can browse any user’s profile and see their entire photo collection. Users can also like and comment on photos straight from the web. When you think about it, Instagram is simply a “news feed” away from being just as much a web entity as they are a mobile entity.

    And not playing nice with Twitter cards is one way to encourage people that everything awesome about Instagram can be found within the walls of Instagram.

  • Twitter Blames Instagram for Irksome Photo Issue

    If you’ve noticed that Instagram photos in your Twitter steam look a little less-than-optimal (horrible and cropped), it’s not just you. Twitter users everywhere are experiencing the problem ans Twitter is well aware of it.

    But Twitter says they are not to blame. Twitter blames Instagram, saying that it’s disabled its Twitter cards integration and that’s the cause of the problem:

    Users are experiencing issues with viewing Instagram photos on Twitter. Issues include cropped images. This is due to Instagram disabling its Twitter cards integration, and as a result, photos are being displayed using a pre-cards experience. So, when users click on Tweets with an Instagram link, photos appear cropped.

    Twitter cards is a design feature that allows for content creators to ensure Twitter users have a media-rich experience with their content. You’ve surely seen Twitter cards in action – for instance when an article from the New York Times appears in your stream and it appears expanded with a photo and part of the article text. That’s a Twitter card.

    But now that Instagram’s dropped its support of Twitter cards, photos are appearing cropped and well, crappy. This seems like just another side effect of Facebook’s Instagram acquisition. Rawr.

    It’s possible that in the future, Twitter won’t even need Instagram photos to make their service media-rich. Well, that’s the plan at least. Recent reports suggest that Twitter may be developing native photo filtering. Just how much that would cut into the Instagram market share on lo-fi photo shares is unknown, however.