Twitter will no longer crop images in its timelines: “Users want to see images and video”

Social media giant Twitter has made photos even more integral to its platform in its latest product update.

The update is being rolled out today and means single photos will not be cropped.

Tweets with multiple images will also be displayed more prominently.

Twitter product manager Akarshan Kumar said in a statement the social media giant will no longer crop photos to allow for a “richer photo experience”.

“While Twitter began as an all-text platform, rich media has become essential to the experience,” Kumar said.

“Some of the best moments on Twitter are when you see the world through someone else’s eyes.

This is why we’re constantly refining Twitter’s media experience – for example, we launched autoplaying video earlier this year, and designed Moments around visual media.”

Starting today, we’re introducing a richer photo experience on https://t.co/mIbPaWDIYL: https://t.co/w8zA0s1mQ9 pic.twitter.com/Jn2jgOVDfc

— Twitter (@twitter) December 7, 2015

Twitter’s head of small business sales, Emily Huo, previously told SmartCompany businesses should include as many images in their tweets as possible.

This is because around 80% if people look at Twitter on their mobile phones, making it essential that your tweets stand out in a crowd.

“Users want to see images and video,” Huo said.

“If they have to do one more step to click on a mobile site, it’s not as engaging as seeing the image or video embedded in the native tweet.

“Focus on putting in some really great rich media.”