David Bridges
May X be seeking to carry again GIF profile pictures within the app?
Twitter, now X, did as soon as supply this as an possibility (form of), and a few customers do nonetheless have transferring profile pictures in consequence. However the capability to really add a GIF as your X avatar has been unavailable, in any type, for greater than a decade.
However that could possibly be about to vary.
In response to a brand new submit from X engineer Andrea Conway, the X group is at the very least discussing the choice of bringing again animated profile pictures.
gif profile pics (they’d be non-compulsory obvs)
— Andrea Conway (@ehikian) November 1, 2023
It’s solely a ballot for now, however Conway has shared numerous insights on coming X options over the past yr, and all of them have ended up being rolled out at some stage. So it does appear possible that that is on the product group’s radar, although some customers are fairly against the choice.
To make clear, X/Twitter has by no means formally enabled customers to add GIFs for his or her profile picture, however there was, at one stage, a workaround that enabled customers to add a GIF inside sure dimensions that may then work as an animated avatar in-stream.
Former Twitter chief Dick Costolo apparently oversaw the closure of this loophole again in 2012, making it inconceivable to add GIFs, however customers that had already carried out so had been capable of hold them. Which is why, every so often, you come throughout an animated profile picture, regardless that you’ll be able to’t truly add one your self.
Some customers declare that it’s too distracting, whereas it could additionally pose issues for display screen readers and different accessibility instruments. However there could possibly be a variation of this the place customers can add an animation to their profile picture, when a customer hovers over the image possibly, or faucets by way of to their profile particularly.
Or it may go full LinkedIn, and add video intros on profiles (which LinkedIn eliminated as an possibility earlier this yr)
I imply, Elon is eager to tackle LinkedIn within the job stakes, so possibly?
It looks like a minor consideration, however it may have an effect, and it could possibly be coming someday quickly.
Additionally price noting, app researcher Jane Manchun Wong famous that X was working on re-adding GIFs as a profile image option in December last year. So it has been at the very least into consideration for a while.
Mason Thompson
Cameron Steel
