Twitter Problem

[Paul Whybrow]

I’ve had a lot of technical glitches in the last year and sometimes, as I’ve searched for solutions, it’s felt like I’m the only person in the world with this particular problem!

The latest is something that shouldn’t be happening. When I try to post a tweet it will accept the text but won’t upload an image saved on my computer. However, it will accept a GIF. After searching forums and YouTube and Reddit and Quora, I found people experiencing similar problems with Instagram, who solved their issue by changing browsers.

I normally use Chromium on Linux but experimented with Opera and Firefox to see if I could attach a picture that way. I also removed and reinstalled Chromium.

It made no difference.

I can’t attach a picture to my tweets.

Any ideas?

Help!

 

[CageSage]

This is my go-to:

CHAPTER 7: ATTACHING PICTURES

Images get more attention in social media than text posts. You can make your tweets more interesting by attaching pictures.

THE BASICS

Attaching pictures on Twitter is easy - just click the camera icon at the bottom of the text box. As long as the picture is small and the tweet is short, a link appears and viewers can click that. However, tweets get much more attention if a picture is visible than if there's a link to click.

This brings us to a Great Twitter Mystery: how to make the pictures visible. Often, Twitter just shows a link, and at other times, just part of a picture. I experimented extensively over the months. Whatever I tried, whatever strategies I pursued, nothing quite worked. I tried format, size, resolution, frequency, etc. It always showed for some people but not others, and there was no consistency about who saw what. If I posted three tweets with pics A, B, and C, some people saw A, some B, some C, with no discernible pattern based on settings, browser or anything.

At last, I discovered the ‘magic formula’: Make the image precisely 1024 pixels wide and 512 pixels high.

Do not deviate a single pixel. Set the resolution to 72 ppi. Post the picture at midnight when the moon is full. It still won’t show for everyone, because of factors outside your control, for example, what device and app the person uses to read their tweets. But most people will see the picture. Twitter will turn your image into an URL, and then turn it back into an image. The URL counts as part of your 140 characters, so if you attach a picture, your tweets need to be even shorter than usual.

…

Book covers are vertical, while the ideal Twitter picture is horizontal. If you tweet the cover as it is, it’ll show only in part or not at all. Paste it on a horizontal background of 1024x512 pixels. If you don’t have the digital image manipulation skills, enlist the help of a Photoshop- or GIMP-savvy friend.



Rayne Hall. Twitter for Writers

 

[Paul Whybrow]

This is my go-to:

CHAPTER 7: ATTACHING PICTURES

Images get more attention in social media than text posts. You can make your tweets more interesting by attaching pictures.

THE BASICS

Attaching pictures on Twitter is easy - just click the camera icon at the bottom of the text box. As long as the picture is small and the tweet is short, a link appears and viewers can click that. However, tweets get much more attention if a picture is visible than if there's a link to click.

This brings us to a Great Twitter Mystery: how to make the pictures visible. Often, Twitter just shows a link, and at other times, just part of a picture. I experimented extensively over the months. Whatever I tried, whatever strategies I pursued, nothing quite worked. I tried format, size, resolution, frequency, etc. It always showed for some people but not others, and there was no consistency about who saw what. If I posted three tweets with pics A, B, and C, some people saw A, some B, some C, with no discernible pattern based on settings, browser or anything.

At last, I discovered the ‘magic formula’: Make the image precisely 1024 pixels wide and 512 pixels high.

Do not deviate a single pixel. Set the resolution to 72 ppi. Post the picture at midnight when the moon is full. It still won’t show for everyone, because of factors outside your control, for example, what device and app the person uses to read their tweets. But most people will see the picture. Twitter will turn your image into an URL, and then turn it back into an image. The URL counts as part of your 140 characters, so if you attach a picture, your tweets need to be even shorter than usual.

…

Book covers are vertical, while the ideal Twitter picture is horizontal. If you tweet the cover as it is, it’ll show only in part or not at all. Paste it on a horizontal background of 1024x512 pixels. If you don’t have the digital image manipulation skills, enlist the help of a Photoshop- or GIMP-savvy friend.



Rayne Hall. Twitter for Writers

Thank you for this. I forgot to mention that I'd seen recommendations by writing gurus, that an image be at least 1,024 pixels by 512 pixels, as in this article:

Twitter Image Size [Up to date guide for 2019]

All the same, I hadn't realised that size was so crucial to getting an image to attach. I tried uploading an image slightly larger and it wouldn't take it.

It all beggars belief, as it makes tweeting labour intensive. I'll have another go. We are all slaves to the machine!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Not everyone likes Scrivener. What do you make of this writer's problems?

 

[Eva Ulian]

I can’t attach a picture to my tweets.

A tweet is 280 characters and allows a picture with it. However, the pictures I post are between 50 to 200 Kbs. If you go over, you end up with problems and usually people can't see it on their phone. So if you have a 1+MB photo you have to reduce it to a more manageable size. Such a programme is in "Office", otherwise you have to download it from somewhere.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

This is my go-to:

CHAPTER 7: ATTACHING PICTURES

Images get more attention in social media than text posts. You can make your tweets more interesting by attaching pictures.

THE BASICS

Attaching pictures on Twitter is easy - just click the camera icon at the bottom of the text box. As long as the picture is small and the tweet is short, a link appears and viewers can click that. However, tweets get much more attention if a picture is visible than if there's a link to click.

This brings us to a Great Twitter Mystery: how to make the pictures visible. Often, Twitter just shows a link, and at other times, just part of a picture. I experimented extensively over the months. Whatever I tried, whatever strategies I pursued, nothing quite worked. I tried format, size, resolution, frequency, etc. It always showed for some people but not others, and there was no consistency about who saw what. If I posted three tweets with pics A, B, and C, some people saw A, some B, some C, with no discernible pattern based on settings, browser or anything.

At last, I discovered the ‘magic formula’: Make the image precisely 1024 pixels wide and 512 pixels high.

Do not deviate a single pixel. Set the resolution to 72 ppi. Post the picture at midnight when the moon is full. It still won’t show for everyone, because of factors outside your control, for example, what device and app the person uses to read their tweets. But most people will see the picture. Twitter will turn your image into an URL, and then turn it back into an image. The URL counts as part of your 140 characters, so if you attach a picture, your tweets need to be even shorter than usual.

…

Book covers are vertical, while the ideal Twitter picture is horizontal. If you tweet the cover as it is, it’ll show only in part or not at all. Paste it on a horizontal background of 1024x512 pixels. If you don’t have the digital image manipulation skills, enlist the help of a Photoshop- or GIMP-savvy friend.



Rayne Hall. Twitter for Writers

I finally managed to tweet a post with a photo, by resizing the image using IrfanView. Thanks for your help, Cage.