Twitter's current image navigation relies on vertical swiping or arrow taps, which feels unintuitive compared to the horizontal swiping standard used by Instagram, Facebook, and Google Photos. This mismatch in user expectations creates minor but frequent friction for anyone browsing image-heavy tweets—especially problematic given that visual content drives significant engagement on the platform.

Reimagining image navigation

One way to improve this could be replacing vertical swipes with left/right gestures for cycling through tweet images, mirroring the expected behavior in other apps. The interface might retain the existing dot indicators while adding:

• Horizontal swipe detection with sensitivity thresholds to avoid accidental triggers
• Optional settings to revert to vertical swiping for legacy users
• Tooltips introducing the change for first-time viewers

Why this matters

While small, this change could disproportionately improve satisfaction because:

1. Tweets with multiple images get 3x more engagement than text-only posts
2. 63% of Twitter users also use Instagram, where horizontal swiping is standard
3. The current method disrupts muscle memory for power users who frequently view image threads

Path to implementation

A phased rollout could start with testing basic horizontal swiping in the media viewer, then iterating based on:

• A/B tests comparing dwell time between swipe versions
• Accidental activation rates during threaded tweet scrolling
• User surveys measuring perceived intuitiveness

The change wouldn't directly generate revenue but could indirectly boost ad performance by making image-based ads more engaging to navigate.