In 2020 and 2021, many photographers began to use Twitter alongside their Instagram accounts. And in some cases, these users chose to focus solely on that particular social network.
But why should you consider using Twitter as a photographer? Let’s find out.
1. You Can Upload Better-Quality Images
How often have you cursed social media platforms for compressing your images and ruining their quality? If you’re like many photographers, you probably answered that question with “many”.
Before late 2019, Twitter was known for its image compression. Since then, however, the platform has done a better job at preserving quality to a respectable degree.
When you upload images to Twitter, you also have more freedom regarding layout. While you’ll gain more attention on Instagram if you share photos in portrait, you can still reach a significant audience on Twitter by publishing content in landscape instead.
Remember that Twitter still has guidelines to follow; you can’t upload stills larger than 5 megabytes.
2. Connect With Other Photographers Through Twitter Spaces
Ever since Clubhouse took off in 2020, several platforms have created similar offerings where users can congregate and chat about topics they’re interested in. Twitter is one of those networks, and you can connect with other photographers using Twitter Spaces.
Twitter Spaces allows you to create and join discussions with audio. If you don’t want to talk, you can also enter a Space and listen instead. You’ll find Spaces for several photography-related topics, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and casual discussions where you can get to know others on the network.
If you want to create your own Space, you’ll need the mobile app. You can still use Twitter Spaces on your computer, but only for joining and listening.
3. The Ability to Group People You Follow
If you have several interests, Twitter is an excellent place to keep up with the majority—if not all—of them. We recommend using your account purely for photography so that your account feels more organized, but you don’t have to.
If you’d like to use Twitter for more than photography alone, you’ll benefit from the ability to group accounts you follow through the Lists feature. The tool lets you view tweets from those added to your list while filtering out everyone else’s content.
To create a new list on Twitter, you’ll first need to click on the Lists tab on the left-hand side of your screen. Then, select the New List icon—which is the sheet of paper with a + sign in the top right.
A new window will open. Here, you can customize your list and make it private by ticking the box in the bottom right-hand corner.
If you want to add or remove members, you can go back to the Lists tab and click on Edit List.
4. Sift Out Noise by Muting Words and Other Users
While Twitter can be a helpful tool for connecting with others and expanding your mind, you’ll also find a lot of noise on the platform. In addition to using several methods to hide trending topics, you can further customize your accounts by muting words and users alike.
You might want to mute accounts and words for several reasons. You should strongly consider using these features if you regularly find yourself down a rabbit hole of irrelevant or negative content. Similarly, muting an account is a good idea if you don’t want to unfollow or block someone.
Muting an account is straightforward. Go to the person’s profile and click on the three dots next to their name. On the dropdown menu, select mute @[user].
To mute words, you can go to your account settings and choose Mute and block. Hit the Muted words option and select the + icon to add any words or phrases you don’t want to see; you can choose to mute them forever or for a shorter period.
5. Pin Tweets to the Top of Your Profile
Social media is excellent for growing your online presence as a photography business, and it’s a helpful tool even if you’re a hobby picture-taker. Considering the real-time nature of Twitter, your posts can sometimes get lost among hundreds (if not thousands) of others; pinning important tweets can help to ensure that your message gets across.
Since first bursting onto the scene in 2014, pinned tweets have become a staple of the Twitter experience. You can use the tool for several purposes, including:
Sharing your journey as a photographer. Promoting your best work and/or your photography website. Encouraging conversations with other photographers.
Click on the three dots next to the post and select Pin to your profile to pin a tweet. In the next window, choose the Pin option; your content will instantly feature at the top of your page.
Note that you cannot pin other people’s tweets directly, but quote-tweeting the post is a possible way around.
6. Use Twitter Threads to Talk About Your Photography
Twitter is effectively a microblogging platform, making it an excellent place to talk about your photography and showcase your favorite pieces of work. Since you can only include 280 characters in each post, creating a Twitter thread is a great idea if you want to discuss your experiences in more depth.
You can use Twitter threads to talk about a whole range of topics. Ideas include:
Sharing your thoughts on a place you recently visited for photography. Providing tips on how to work better with photography clients. Showing how you edit your photos with other people that follow you.
Creating a thread on Twitter is straightforward. Once you’ve published a tweet, go to the speech bubble icon in the bottom left. Type in the box underneath and press the Tweet button; repeat this process until you’ve finished what you have to say.
Twitter Is a Hidden Gem for Photographers
Twitter has its drawbacks, but let’s be honest—which social media platform doesn’t?
When used for positive reasons, Twitter is still one of the best social media networks for photographers. The platform gives you massive amounts of freedom to share your creative work, along with talking about the behind-the-scenes and more.
You might feel like you’re talking into the abyss when you first start. But if you actively contribute to the community, you’ll meet plenty of like-minded people and learn a considerable amount about photography.
