In fact, Twitter claims that the enhancement was made to “highlight the photos, videos and news shared on Twitter, all en-wrapped in more social context,” according to Tian Wang on the Twitter blog.
At present, image results are only being implemented for selected terms. Also, the use of hashtags before some words can determine whether or not the search function works or not. One example is that, dogs does not illicit results, but #dogs does (same for canine rivals cats and #cats). More terms will be integrated as the tool gets further refined.
Since its debut in 2006, Twitter has built a base of 140 million users and dominated the micro-blogging world. The company during this period has rolled out slew of improvements to help them wage a war against Facebook’s Instagram. Also, those improvements include the addition of highlighted video news, image previews on articles and stories, the brand new photo search, and possibly adding filters to images.
Despite Twitter’s strategic attempts, though, Facebook’s Instagram, with a reported 100 million users, has kept its stranglehold on social photography. Besides, Instagram has also made it more strenuous to tag Twitter profiles in Instagram posts in an attempt at removing the micro-blogging site from the social photography one.
However, according to social media strategist Nick Cicero, Twitter’s latest move is a fight to own social images. “It is really becoming a battleground for social image and rich media in general,” Cicero said. “Twitter is putting an emphasis on sharing rich media, not just 140-character messages. Twitter and Instagram have millions of users with camera phones in their pockets, so the playing field is level. The goal is making the most attractive platform for people to spend the most time sharing their experiences through pictures.”
Nevertheless, Twitter’s latest move, in adding a new image search, will likely help them, at least a little bit, in their fight to topple Instagram’s social photography reign, (here is how to share your Instagram photos on Twitter).