Oct
19

Twitpic vs. Posterous in the Twitterverse

So I decided to do a lil’ experiment yesterday with my twitter account. I’m starting to post more pictures while on twitter, and I wanted to see what’s the best way of doing it?

I’ve been using Posterous for all my pics until today, only because I simply forgot about the Twitpic service. Raised Eyebrow

Each service offers the ability to upload a picture to a website, and then the website in turn sends an automatic tweet via your twitter account to Twitter as a tweet with a shortened URL link to the picture you uploaded. (wow.. that’s a mouthful)

This is accomplished by simply ‘emailing’ the picture you desire to a specific email address which is provided by each service.

I must say I was surprised and disappointed.

I have listened (sorry- watched) on Twitterland(or Twitterverse if you so desire) how some users have had a lag time between sending the post to Twitpic and actually having it show up as a tweet. I believe Beth (PixelRN) has tweeted her frustrations about this.

I posted the same picture to both services. Posterous tweeted my pic almost instantaneously. Twitpic took almost 20minutes.

I’m not sure what determines the efficiency of the post, or the upload of the pic, but Posterous won by a landslide.

Here’s the breakdown:

Twitpic:

  • slow turnover time between upload email and actual tweet
  • ability to comment on the actual pic (on the Twitpic website)
  • your comment can be accomplished on the actual site, or by replying to the tweet

Posterous:

  • virtual instantaneous tweet after uploading your pic
  • annoying confirmation email sent to you after your pic is uploaded
  • your tweeted reply will not show up as a comment
  • more than just a pic uploading service to twitter – can do mobile blogging and more!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these services, or any others that you may use to post pictures via Twitter.

Happy Tweeting!

Carpe Diem

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  • I've just tried Twitpic a few days ago and was disappointed with extremely slow turnover.
  • I agree that twitpic's lag time - when posting via email from one's mobile phone - is annoying. But there is NO time lag if a photo is uploaded directly in the twitpic page or when one uses a third party app like twhirl which incorporates twitpic.
    I haven't tried posterous, but I believe one would have to create an account there. Conversely twitpic only asks to log into one's own twitter account, and that too only when posting / uploading from the twitpic website.
  • Thanks for the post. I've been meaning to try this service and finally did it after I read your post: it IS better than TwitPic. I keep having TwitPic and SnapTweet rejections lately...this seems utterly better. Thanks for the prod!
  • may
    again, proof that ignorance is bliss. see, i have no clue about posting pictures, on my blog or on twitter. so, i am never frustrated :)
  • Strong One
    @ Karin RN Yeah, the turnover time is slow. It seems that it's only slow with mobile pic uploads though?
    @ Vijay I never took into account the need for registering. Thanks for the information!
    @ Up To No Good Your welcome. I'm torn between the two.
    @ May So ignorance IS bliss. Heh heh.
  • runningwildly
    Ok, this is the second time I've heard about Twitter today. I still have no freakin' idea what it is!?!?! I'm young enough where I should know such things....so perhaps I've buried my head in the school books too long. Sigh.
  • Strong One
    @ runningwildly Heh heh. Google twitter. And come join the fun!
  • Thanks for the write up about Twitpic. I wanted to let you know that the lag issue is due to Twitpic receiving more traffic than we anticipated. This weekend we are putting Twitpic on new servers that will fix the lag issues and other "slowness" of the site. Thanks again!
  • Strong One
    @ Noah Thank you for response!
  • Wow. That is so cool that Noah responded. I was going to say that I like Twitpic the best for its ease of use, but it's been a little slow lately. Glad to hear they are getting new servers!

    I like posterous because it can post to my blog or twitter, however, my blog isn't set up to handle images of large sizes so sometimes when I use it it throws off my template a bit. But it's all or nothing - if you set it up to post to your blog then it ALWAYS posts to your blog, so if you have to go back and edit it it kind of takes away from the convenience factor.

    Overall, I'd have to vote for twitpic. It just seems easier to use. I also like the fact that you can tag your photos.
  • Hey, thanks for the note about posterous. =)

    Every service out there has to deal with scaling, so it's not an easy thing. But a good problem to have.

    Feel free to email us anytime at help@posterous.com if you can think of things you'd like to see to make Posterous more useful to you.

    Best,
    -Garry
  • Strong One
    @ Beth Thanks for the information. I believe you can simply set up Posterous for twitter, or your blog, or all the above.
    @ Garry Tan Wow! Thanks for your response.
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