Twitter has officially started to roll out their image upload option for those that post directly from the Web. Currently users can upload images up to 3 MB or smaller, and it will be hosted by Photobucket. When you upload the image, a small thumbnail preview will appear below the text field for your tweet.
Twitter also has done away with their old version of the website, so users can view these uploaded images in their stream by clicking on the tweet (you have to enable this feature for people you are not following).
According to Twitter’s detail page for this new feature, other third-party image hosts like Twitpic will still function the same way. In the future Twitter will be adding a gallery feature for these images, and supposedly it will include these third-party images as well. Currently images are only on an individual basis, and are directly connected to the tweet.
If you delete a tweet, the hosted image will also be deleted. However, if you protect your account (blocks the public from viewing your tweets) any previously public images will result in a 404 error. They also list that your EXIF data will be removed upon uploading the images, as there recently has been an increased concern for the information associated with this data.
Some services currently allow you to comment or reply to an image, which will result in comments where it is hosted. Supposedly when you reply to a tweet with an image it will show these comments, but it doesn’t appear to be functioning yet. As stated on Twitters Help Center, “yes, you can do this by replying to the Tweet containing this image.” This leaves some room for interpretation though.
The only issue I currently see with this feature, is that you are limited to uploading one photo at a time. Some mobile apps for Twitter allow you to upload several pieces of media at the same time.
Twitter will also be allowing third-party developers to access the API for this feature in the future. I can see a lot of possibilities with more interactive marketing campaigns, especially if they enable a web-camera to activate as well as simple image uploading.
I am a Communications Marketing Specialist for GovWin, a social media addict, the founder of a communications consulting firm that offers free assistance to the world, and dedicated to empowering everyone. 
