Twitter allows NFTs to be profile pics - But there's a catch

Twitter has launched a new feature designed to help owners of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to identify themselves on the platform. It now lets owners of NFTs flaunt their digital possessions with hexagon-shaped profile pictures differentiating them from the standard circles available to other users. 

NFT owners can also connect their crypto wallet to their Twitter account and anyone tapping on the hexagonal pictures will get to see the details of the art and its ownership.

The new feature, as of now, is available on iOS to users of Twitter Blue subscription service, which was launched last year but has not taken off the way the platform probably hoped it would.

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Twitter adds a verification layer, but that isn't enough

Twitter is obviously making an effort to tap into the NFT craze that is apparent on social media platforms. Already some users had their NFT photos as their profile pics. But being an open platform, those pics are right-clickable and usable by others. Now this latest move by Twitter precludes that kind of theft. Twitter's new service gives NFT owners an added layer of verification. But it still doesn't address the larger problem of knowing whether someone who flex NFT profile on twitter is actually the real owner of that.

But that is problem that is impossible to solve by Twitter, and it is clear that the platform is getting into NFT to just ride on its craze. 

A Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying: "We’re now seeing people use NFTs as a form of identity and self-expression, and as a way to join the thriving community and increasingly active conversation on Twitter. This new feature provides a seamless, user-friendly way for people on Twitter to verify their NFT ownership by allowing them to directly connect their crypto wallets to Twitter and select an NFT from their collection as their new profile picture.”

How to get your NFT as your profile pic

If you are an NFT owner and want to link it to your Twitter account, the process is simple.  Get yourself a Twitter Blue subscription. Then, go to your Twitter profile (on an iOS device), tap 'Edit Profile' then tap to change your profile picture. But instead of choosing an image, select ‘Choose NFT.’ Connect your crypto wallet to your Twitter account. Choose the NFT you want to get your hexagon-shaped profile picture.

Twitter Blue feature will add an icon indicating that the NFT has been authenticated and that person behind the account is the official owner of the piece.

Currently, Twitter only supports static image JPEG or PNG files. Also, the NFTs have to be minted on the Ethereum blockchain, not Polygon or any other. Android and desktop users cannot access hexagon-shaped profile pictures just yet.

But Twitter has clarified that the new NFT profile display option will be coming to all users eventually.

Twitter Communities now on Android

Meanwhile,  after over four months of the launch of its Communities option, which lets users to chat and share tweets with topic-aligned groups of people on the platform, Twitter has has extended it to Android users too. 

Initially, the feature was available to testers on iOS and the web. Communities is Twitter’s version of forums that were prevalent on many websites in the early of internet.

But apparently, the feature is still in beta testing just yet, and users still need to get Twitter's approval for any of the communities they may want to create.

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