One of the things that makes Instagram so popular is its filters that can turn a boring photo in a beautiful piece of art. (That is, "art," in the Instagrammer's mind, at least.)
Now Twitter is going jump on the filter bandwagon, says Mike Issac of All Things D.
The goal is to add filters to its mobile apps before the end of the year, says Issac. The thinking seems to be that people take a lot of photos around Christmas and New Year's Eve, so Twitter wants to get a piece of the action.
Twitter probably wants to halt Instagram's ascent. In August, Instagram surged past Twitter for daily active users in the U.S. according to comScore. But, just adding photo filters isn't going to get it done.
Filters are only half the reason Instagram is a success. Instagram is a social network dedicated to photo sharing. Twitter is not. Adding filters isn't going to change that.
Maybe if Twitter added an extra tab for just looking at photos, it could make itself better for sharing photos. But, just adding filters isn't going to be enough.
This move from Twitter is also interesting because this week, Instagram stopped allowing its photos to be shared directly within Twitter's apps. It used be that Instagram photos could be viewed in the stream. Now you have to go to Instagram's site. It's a minor inconvenience, but it shows how the two companies are competing to control user experience.
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