TwitPic
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 Screenshot of TwitPic in November 2009 |
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| URL | http://www.twitpic.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Share photos on Twitter |
| Type of site | Image sharing |
| Registration | Required |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Noah Everett |
| Created by | Noah Everett |
| Launched | Early 2008[1] |
| Alexa rank | 97[2] |
| Current status | Online |
TwitPic is a website that allows users to easily post pictures to the Twitter microblogging and social media service.[3] TwitPic is often used by citizen journalists to upload and distribute pictures in near real-time as an event is taking place.[4][5]
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[edit] History
TwitPic was launched in 2008 by Noah Everett.[1] 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.[6]
[edit] Description
TwitPic could be used independently of Twitter, in a way similar to Flickr. 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.[7][8]
[edit] Related applications
TweetDeck, Echofon, Tweetie, Twitfile, and Twitterrific are iPhone applications that can upload photos from iPhones to TwitPic.[9] [10] 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 30 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.[11] Twitter announced partnership with Photobucket to be the default photo sharing application on 1 June, which may significantly affect TwitPic's market share.
[edit] In media
In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 experienced multiple bird strikes 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.[12][13] The TwitPic service crashed as thousands of people tried to access the photo at the same time.[14] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "About TwitPic". Twitpic.com. http://twitpic.com/about.do. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ "Alexa Details Page". http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitpic.com.
- ^ Gibbs, Mark (2008-03-31). "Micro-blogging". Network World. http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/web/2008/033108web1.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Nuttall, Chris (2009-01-19). "An Obamaramic inauguration". THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD. http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/01/an-obamarama-inauguration/. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Dreilinger, Ethan (2009-01-16). "Fighting For A Slice Of Bandwith (sic)". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/01/16/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4727704.shtml. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ "How A Spare Computer Became Twitpic". Mixergy. http://mixergy.com/twitpic-noah-everett/. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- ^ http://blog.twitpic.com/2011/05/your-content-your-copyrights/
- ^ "Twitpic angers users over copyright grab". BBC News. 2011-05-12. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13372982.
- ^ Wagner, Mitch (2008-07-16). "iPhone Free Software: Twitterific Puts Twitter In Your Pocket". InformationWeek. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/07/iphone_free_sof.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ studio, naan (2008). "TwitterFon - How to Use". TwitterFon. http://twitterfon.net/how-to-use.html. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
- ^ "How People Currently Share Pictures On Twitter". Sysomos. 2011-06-02. http://blog.sysomos.com/2011/06/02/how-people-currently-share-pictures-on-twitter/. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ Wendland, Mike (2009-01-16). "Is this a photo showing plane splashing down?". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on 2009-01-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20090122215059/http://freep.com/article/20090116/BLOG01/90116045/1009. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Marrone, Matt (2009-01-16). "Twitter grabs spotlight with Janis Krums' US Airways crash photo, then won't shut up about it". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-01-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20090119232453/http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/01/16/2009-01-16_twitter_grabs_spotlight_with_janis_krums.html. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Taylor, Catharine P. (2009-01-16). "Is Citizen Journalist Coverage of a Plane Crash More Important Than a Plane Crash?". CBS Interactive Inc.. http://industry.bnet.com/media/1000607/whats-more-important-citizen-journalist-coverage-of-a-plane-crash-or-the-plane-crash-itself/. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
[edit] External links
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