August 9th was a dark day for third-party Twitter photo sharing services like TwitPic and YFrog. Twitter launched its own official servicewith Photobucketas its hosting partner. Now, stats shared with us by photo search engine Skylines show that Twitter has become the number one photo sharing service on the platform, handling 36% of shares. TwitPic now processes 30% of tweeted photos and YFrog is down to 21%. Just 5 months ago, TwitPic had 45.7% and YFrog had 29.3%, but now it looks like they must differentiate or die a slow death.
Things started getting scary for the third-parties in March when Twitter announced that straight-forward clients would no longer be permitted in an effort to promote diversity on the platform. In fact, Twitter’s co-founder had foreshadowed it might move into photos back in April 2010. Still, then ecosystem leader TwitPic said it was blindsided by Twitter’s move, as the platform leader never briefed that company despite giving a heads up to YFrog and Plixi.
Another critical blow as struck when Twitter announced it wouldopen an API for its photo sharing service, allowing app developers to build on and host their photos with it rather than through third-party photo services. And when it couldn’t get any worse, the roll out of the official photo service was accompanied by the launch of Twitter Galleries, which lets users view all tweeted photos including those from third-parties.
With easier ways to share and view photos directly through Twitter, the decline of TwitPic and YFrog seemed assured. Twitter’s current overall lead comes way of its Twitter for iPhone client which accounts for 42% of photos shared to its photo service and 21% of all photos shared on Twitter. Its iOS5 integration is successful too, with iOS Photos and Camera combining to become the 7th biggest Twitter photo client, publishing 5% of tweeted photos.Instagram carries 12% of photos shared to Twitter.
However, users seem ingrained in their behavior, as Skyline’s analysis of 24 million photos shared during a week in late October show users haven’t abandoned the third-party services overnight.TwitPic remains the most popular sharing service for Android devices, accounting for 39% of photo shares through Google’s mobile OS.YFrog meanwhile leads on BlackBerry devices with 47%.
Still, if they don’t want their remaining user base to slip away, TwitPic, YFrog and others will need to offer something unique — ways to touch up or enhance photos as they’re shared, and innovative ways to sort galleries.
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Josh Constine is a venture partner at $2.1 billion early-stage VC fund SignalFire that builds AI to help its portfolio companies with recruiting and sales. He focuses on consumer, including social, marketplaces, and AI-enabled services. He also leads SignalFire’s PR and fundraising advisory program for its portfolio. Previously, Constine was Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch and was ranked the #1 most cited tech journalist 2016-2020 by Techmeme. Constine has moderated 200+ on-stage interviews and keynotes in 18 countries with leaders including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Senator Cory Booker, and whistleblower Edward Snowden. Constine graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s degree he designed in Cybersociology, has been quoted in the NYT and WSJ, and is regularly featured on CNN.
Constine currently writes a weekly newsletter called Moving Product at https://constine.substack.com/ where he discusses big ideas facing the startup industry, the most exciting new tech products, and interviews top industry talent about the most important recent launches.
Previously, Constine was the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote over 3500 blog posts about social tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat as well as early stage startups across verticals. His work was cited on the floors of the Senate and House Of Representatives, and led to the shut down of Facebook’s Onavo market surveillance app.
Constine was formerly the Lead Writer of Inside Facebook through its acquisition by WebMediaBrands, covering everything about the social network.
Constine graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with a Master’s degree in Cybersociology, examining the influence of technology on social interaction. He researched the impact of privacy controls on the socialization of children, meme popularity cycles, and what influences the click through rate of links posted to Twitter. Constine also received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Stanford University in 2007, with a concentration in Social Psychology & Interpersonal Processes.
Josh Constine is an experienced public speaker, and has moderated over 190 on-stage interviews in 18 countries with leaders including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram’s founders, whistleblower Edward Snowden (via on-stage video conference), and U.S. Senator Cory Booker. He also delivers keynotes on how to pitch startups, press strategy for tech companies, and how to turn your passion into your profession. He is available to moderate panels and fireside chats, provide keynotes, and judge hackathon and pitch competitions. You can contact him at Joshsc [at] gmail .com
Constine has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Atlantic, BBC World Magazine, Slate, and more, plus has been featured on television on Good Morning, America, The Today Show, China Central Television, and Fox News. Constine was ranked as the #1 most cited tech journalist on prestigious news aggregator Techmeme from 2016 to 2020.
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