Just Checking In

Late last week the Untappd social drinking application pushed through an update for both its IOS and Android apps. The new update enables users to see more details of each friend's beer check-ins immediately in "The Pub" tab. The five-star rating system has now been integrated to allow half-point ratings if need be.

This can make for a more enjoyable experience in terms of engaging with your friends within the app and discussing the beers you've tried as well as more accurate ratings. I most likely won't be changing my rating system to anything more than I have now. So, please don't confuse what I rate beers on Untappd with the final ratings I give them in a blog post review

The initial ratings I give on Untappd to those beers I check-in to are just a first impression. I traditionally perform each check in just a few sips into a beer that I'm trying. In some cases the check-ins can just be a small sample. Here's to some exciting check-ins in the future!

Where Have the Images Gone?

So, you've cruised on over to the web version of Twitter and looked quickly at your Twitter profile. More than likely (if you're an Instagram user) you've noticed the absence of many of your photographs that were kept under the "Recent Images" section of your profile. That would be due to Instagram pulling all of its images from Twitter posted there by users. Your photographs are now kaput now kaput.

If anything, the beer community benefited by the amazing filters Instagram employed. How many mouth-watering pictures did you post or come across over the past two years? That's right a ton.

From my (possibly former) Instagram account.

Now, Twitter has developed a new photography interface for both its iPhone and Android apps that enables you to add some filters to your pictures. Sadly, it leaves most of us in the online beer community with a dilemma.

If we continue to post photographs through Instagram, it means that less of our followers will be seeing what gets posted to our Twitter feeds. You might think those of us that say this are being picky, but people are less likely to see what you post when they have to make that second click on a tweet. If not, we can either post our pictures solely to our Twitter feeds with its new interface, or forgo posting them to Twitter altogether. To be honest, I find the collection of previous photographs on Twitter profiles valuable. I'll most likely be making the switch from Instagram to Twitter's new interface.

I'm interested to see how this goes. Will Twitter's new photo filters be anything like that of Instagram? I say it most likely will. All you're doing is putting a filter on a picture. Not that stunning when you really think about it.