Filters are the new hot thing in social media. Snapchat was perhaps the best, with their now-ubiquitous filters finding use daily and creating a better aesthetic experience on the app. Facebook got in the game with MSQRD, which allows their titanic Live platform some more of that delicious magic. Now Twitter will join the other social giants with an overlay of their own.
Basically, whenever you upload a photo to Twitter, you’ll now be able to add a little flair.
“Twitter stickers are basically emoji you can place on top of a photo,” Wired writes. “There’s sunglasses, and a guy surfing, and flowers, and hats, and you get the idea. Whenever you take a photo, you can drop in a few stickers before you tweet it. Just like that, poof: more fun photos. There’s a standard set of stickers, plus Twitter’s going to be making them for big events, too.”
That’s where things get interesting, and probably where Twitter feel they can beat Snapchat. All stickers will be searchable, much like Instagram’s emoji search. That means that if there’s a big event sticker, you can see all other images from that event. More intuitive than a hashtag, and much easier to standardise. Seriously, try figuring out the exact right hashtag for an event. It’s basically impossible in certain contexts.
Stickers are already huge, according to reporting by Forbes. Line reported they sold £203 million of stickers in the past year, Quartz reports. So it’s possible that Twitter, which has famously struggled with profitability and user growth, will have another revenue stream as well. For us, the users, it just means cuter pics. We’re all in.
Here's what they look like.
Coming soon! Unleash your creativity by adding fun #Stickers to your photos on Twitter: https://t.co/Ph92Oivyhy pic.twitter.com/NZoM6nHenD
— Twitter (@twitter) June 27, 2016
Connect your photos to the world with a visual spin on hashtags: tap #Stickers to peel back a fun new way to search. pic.twitter.com/YVy7r53Nja
— Twitter (@twitter) June 27, 2016
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