Twitter added native image sharing in 2011. In June of that year, Twitter announced an integrated photo-sharing service that allowed users to upload a picture directly through Twitter.com and attach it to a tweet.
Before native support, Twitter users commonly depended on outside services such as TwitPic, yFrog, and Instagram to host images and then share links in tweets. Twitter’s built-in system made the process more seamless: a photo could be uploaded within Twitter and displayed as part of the tweet rather than appearing only as an external link.
The feature also connected images more closely with Twitter’s search and discovery systems. Users could associate pictures with hashtags, while Twitter discussed photo galleries that could collect images shared by users. This was an important step in Twitter’s development from a largely text-centered service into a broader media platform. Later milestones included native video uploads, image descriptions for accessibility, and the removal of photos and videos from the 140-character count in 2016.