Micro-blogging site Twitter has announced that it’s testing edge-to-edge media in tweets on iOS, creating a more full-screen, almost Instagram-like experience for the photos and videos in your timeline.
In an email to The Verge, the micro-blogging site wrote that it is testing the change because it wants to better support visual and text-based conversations.
If it rolls out beyond a select group of iOS users, this change also helps Twitter address concerns over image cropping that it’s been dealing with over the last few years, the report said.
Image cropping algorithms have been informally shown to have a bias toward white faces; something Twitter confirmed earlier this year, it added.
Twitter has attempted to address that problem by eliminating photo cropping, but this design test takes things a step further with an Instagram-style emphasis on visuals. Entire joke formats get lost in the process, but such is the cost of progress.
As per the report, some people have already taken issue with Twitter’s design.
Searches for “New Twitter” bring up plenty of complaints, like the new layout is headache-inducing and that edge-to-edge screenshots of tweets can confusingly look like an actual tweet.
The report noted that Twitter might have some more tweaking to do before this test becomes official.
