How to create your own Twitpic-like website

I’ve been getting a few queries on my Twitter picture website i.e t.xes.cx. If you’ve not been to my Twitter picture website, it’s basically a website that hosts all the pictures that I post to my Twitter account (which is linked to my Facebook).

The reason for me to have a separate website to host my pictures instead of third party hosting sites such as Twitpic and tweetphoto is simple. For a low traffic website like mine, every unique hit counts. Unique hits dictates the rate of my banner advertisements and advertorials. The most unique hits I get, the higher the rate I can get.

Occasionally I post pictures of my cats

Sometimes weird or interesting pictures while on the go

Also traffic reports with pictures

After spending hours on research, I found the most suitable method. The method is as follows:

1. Install a subdomain (optional)
2. Install a separate WordPress account
3. Install 2 plugins namely Postie (Note: Postie does not works on WP3.2.1) and WordTwit.

Postie basically posts entries that you post through email. It doesn’t work on free emails such as Gmail. Hence you need to register a special email address e.g twitterpictures@xes.cx. All I need to do is send a picture to that email.

Upon sending the picture, Postie will create an entry containing the picture. The subject matter of the email will be topic of the entry and also the text of the tweet.

For details how to configure the plugins, read the instruction manual on the plugin website.

Once an entry is posted, WordTwit will update my twitter based on the subject matter of my entry. I have also syncronised my twitter account with my Facebook account so that my twitter update will show on my Facebook.

If you want a counter to calculate the amount of view of your post, you can install WP-PostViews.

The only problem using this method is that the preview pictures do not show on mobile Twitter clients. But it’s something I can live without.

Related Link
Roll Your Own TwitPic-like Media Hosting Using Posterous