Twitter recently updated its API so photos and videos would automatically appear in the stream, meaning users no longer had to click to expand.

A month down the track and the update is already showing positive signs for brand engagement.

Click to expand

Tech blog The Next Web cited figures from social media scientist Dan Zarrella claiming tweets containing images from pic.twitter.com links were 94 per cent more likely to be retweeted.

Interestingly, Zarrella also found tweets with Instagram links were 42 per cent less likely to be retweeted.

Experimental vision

The Next Web ran its own experiment, comparing 100 tweets with images to the same number of tweets without.

The results revealed that tweets with images were only slightly likely to generate more clicks, but received 89 per cent more favourites. 

But the biggest change upswing came from retweets – tweets with images attached received a massive 150 per cent more retweets.

Photo future 

While not every brand may experience the massive spike seen by The Next Web, the figures suggest attaching images to your tweets is an easy engagement win.

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