You can’t control the images that appears there, short of deleting
them. So, when someone visits your Twitter profile to check you out, to decide if they’ll follow you or not, you want them to see something good … or at least to not see something bad.
Beyond those four images, there’s a “view all” link that leads to
your full gallery, which includes the most recent 100 images associated
with your account.
So, for the sake of reputation management, take good care of this new photo gallery:
1. Be careful about the photos that you post.
2. Be careful about the photos that you retweet.
Yes, your image gallery includes images uploaded by other users IF you use the old-style retweet. If you use the new Retweet button, the images won’t appear in your gallery.
3. Be careful about who has access to your Twitter account.
If you’ve assigned Twitter to one of your employees, make sure s/he
is aware of the new image galleries and the need to be prudent about
what images are posted, retweeted, etc. That’s especially true if you
fit this next one….
4. Be careful if you use a Twitter client that offers multi-account management.
I have about 5-6 different accounts setup in Tweetdeck and I
occasionally tweet from the wrong account. And there are definitely some
tweets (and images) that may be right for one account, but wouldn’t be
appropriate for another. If you use a client like that, be careful of
posting or retweeting images from your company account.
But There are Pros, Too (That Outweigh the Cons)
First, if you do accidentally post a photo that shouldn’t be in your
gallery, you can delete it — so all is not lost the minute an accident
happens.
Second, I think the image galleries are ultimately something a small business should try to take advantage of, not fear.
If you’re a restaurant, bakery, winery, landscaping company, salon, printing company, real estate agent or any small business with a visual element to your business, the new image gallery can make a compelling case in your favor if you fill it with good, attractive images.
That’s not to say that your bakery should never post any photos other
than the cakes you make. And it’s not to say you can’t have a
personality and have fun on Twitter by sharing unique/interesting images
— you can.
The bottom line: Just make sure the images you post and share on
Twitter give the right impression of your business. Because starting
now, they’re being archived for all to see.
/Small Business Search Marketing/
With Twitter starting to add user photo galleries today, small business owners on Twitter may want to be even more prudent than normal about what photos they share and retweet via the company Twitter account. This new feature is extremely prominent on profile pages and might cause some problems depending on what shows up there.