Instagram brings back Twitter Cards, will let links get a small preview

They said it would never happen… Twitter Card previews start rolling out TODAY. 👀

Now, when you share an Instagram link on Twitter a preview of that post will appear. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/XSZRx9dzd1

— Instagram (@instagram) November 3, 2021

Instagram once allowed link previews on Twitter. The feature would let Instagram links be shared on the micro-blogging platform along with a small preview.

However, it was taken down for some reason, turning shared Instagram links to just plain links for years. This meant users had to click on the link and follow it to the post to know what it was about.

A report by XDA Developers suggests that enabling link previews is not a mammoth task and requires only a few more lines of code. However, Instagram chose to willingly not implement the feature all this time.

Instagram likely removed the ability because of reduction of clicks on links. When a link preview is available, people are less likely to follow through to the actual post, which will open in a separate window or app.

A preview saves them the time by offering a small version of the post, which lets users actually decide if they want more insight via the full post, which is when they’d click on the link.

The new previews will however, show only partial posts and this may crop out most images and thumbnails on the preview.

The change is likely back because Instagram may have realised that link previews in the form of thumbails for Reels could attract more users to the platform than a simple line of blue text.