We seem to be in the middle (or the start) of an NFT craze. But however you want to put it, Twitter wants to capitalise on it.
In a tweet back in September, Justin Taylor, head of consumer product marketing for Twitter, shared what the platform was working on in the NFT space.
Here’s a sneak peek👀 on what we’re working on for NFT profile verification.
What do you think? pic.twitter.com/Z8c6tH3BBy
— Justin Taylor (@TheSmarmyBum) September 29, 2021
Taylor’s tweet showed that Twitter could soon be allowing users to add NFTs to their profile.
Well, on Friday, Twitter went ahead with this threat.
gm!
You asked (a lot), so we made it. Now rolling out in Labs: NFT Profile Pictures on iOS pic.twitter.com/HFyspS4cQW
— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) January 20, 2022
Did we really ask for this, Twitter?
This feature is limited, however. Only those with a Twitter Blue subscription will be given the opportunity to show off their NFTs. So if someone has a hexagon profile pic, you will know three things: 1. they pay for Twitter, 2. they have at least one NFT and 3. they use an iOS device.
The fourth, if you want another, is who you will likely block next.
https://twitter.com/GenderTernary/status/1484259038485368836
As far as technical specs go, Twitter can currently only support static images (JPEG or PNG) minted on the Ethereum blockchain. To upload your NFT as your profile picture, you must temporarily connect your Twitter account with your crypto wallet. According to Twitter, the NFT profile picture feature only supports the following crypto wallets: Argent, Coinbase Wallet, Ledger Live, MetaMask, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet.
Head over to that Twitter thread to learn how to add your NFT, if you want.
In addition, on Friday, Twitter super-user and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the new feature was “annoying” and “bs.”
“Twitter is spending engineering resources on this bs while crypto scammers are throwing a spambot block party in every thread!?” Musk wrote on Twitter.
This is annoying pic.twitter.com/KAkDl29CTX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2022
The move from Twitter to become the “social network for the discovery, conversation, and education around NFT, blockchain, and crypto technology” (as Esther Crawford, the Twitter product lead in charge of the NFT profile picture feature rollout, told the Wall Street Journal) is hardly surprising considering @jack has long been a supporter of bitcoin, so much so that his bio on the platform simply reads #bitcoin.
Heck, back in July, Dorsey went so far as to claim that bitcoin — a cryptocurrency with some pretty questionable environmental impacts — could be the key to world peace.
The now-former CEO also tweeted previously that bitcoin would unite the United States.
#Bitcoin will unite a deeply divided country.
(and eventually: world)
— jack⚡️ (@jack) August 9, 2021
Twitter lets you ‘tip’ your favourite ‘creators’ with crypto and let’s not forget the fact that Dorsey’s first ever tweet is actually minted as an NFT.
So the dude who paid $US2.9 million (just over $4 million) for ‘just setting up my twttr’ might be able to show everyone he owns it, now Twitter is pushing out this new feature that literally no one asked for.
This article has been updated since original publication in September to show the feature is now being rolled out. An additional update was made on January 22. This post was contributed to by Jody Serrano.