So, if you are a Twitter user, you certainly must be aware of its weird cropping algorithm. You upload an image with your cat at the center, but when it appears on someone else’s feed, an entirely different part of the image is in the focus instead of your pet, unless the image is tapped to open it in full view. And of course, the allegations of the algorithm’s perceived racial bias are also there. Well, thanks to Twitter’s new test, users will now be able to see how an image looks on the timeline while composing the tweet.
Have a collection of higher res photos waiting to be shared? We’re testing ways for you to upload and view 4K images on Android and iOS.
If you’re in the test, update your high-quality image preferences in “Data usage” settings to get started. pic.twitter.com/EgW5fsb8Z8
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 10, 2021
One-image tweets will be shown as it is, portrait or landscape, as long it is a standard aspect ratio
Twitter says the new feature is currently being tested on Android and iOS. The gist is that the tweet composer screen will show you exactly how an image will look on your or someone else’s timeline. Chief Design Officer Dantley Davis also mentioned that tweets with a single image will show the photos as it is, provided it is a standard aspect ratio. Only images with an abnormally tall or wide aspect ratio will be center-cropped.
With this test, we hope to learn if this new approach is better and what changes we need to make to provide a “what you see is what you get” experience for Tweets with images.
— Dantley Davis (@dantley) March 10, 2021
What this means is if you choose to share a portrait image with a vertical orientation, it will appear as such to others in their Twitter feed. And the same applies to landscape shots too. In the past, Twitter has received some flak over how its cropping-and-highlighting algorithm picks up what part of an image to highlight and show in the timeline when the tweet goes live, especially those with an unnaturally tall or wide profile and with multiple objects that can be put into focus.
Twitter tests letting users upload up to 4K resolution images
Another key feature that the company is testing is the ability to upload images of up to 4K resolution. What this means is your high-resolution uploads will no longer be automatically compressed and kept from being shown in all their glory. To take advantage of this feature, you will have to manually enable the new ‘high-quality image uploads’ option in the Data Usage section of the app. However, do keep in mind that the two aforementioned features are part of a test, which means they will be available to only a small number of users initially.
