Flickr adds direct-to-Twitter publishing

What took them so long? Flickr now has a built-in feature that lets members tweet their photos. “You can upload directly to Flickr and Twitter simultaneously, or tweet a photo already on Flickr, using a special short Flic.kr URL,” says the company’s FAQ. It also explains how to post photos from your phone, and how to tweet from Flickr.

From an email sent to us by Twitter’s PR firm (we’ve added links to the relevant account configuration pages):

To use Flickr 2 Twitter, members need to first authorize Flickr to post to their Twitter accounts. Once authorized, members will be able to tweet photos from the “Blog This” button on their photo page or from their mobile devices.

Mobile uploading is possible once members enable their Upload by Email settings (unique Flickr email upload address + “2twitter”). After you’ve successfully tweeted your Flickr photo, it will look something like this.

Here are some sample Flickr posts to Twitter. This is Flickr’s response to Twitpic, Posterous and PhotoBucket. Flickr may be late to the game, but it’s got consumer brand recognition Posterous can only dream of.

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