« Bing Shopping Doing Very Well Since Launch | Main | Google AdWords Releases New Search Ads Quality Guide, Display Ad Builder Templates »
August 14, 2009
Twitter to Officially Adopt ReTweeting (And You Might Not Like It)
Twitter is planning on making the act of ReTweeting an official Twitter feature. Right now, it's just some crazy phenomenon started by users. It wasn't all that far-fetched, really. People have been using @username to respond to comments on blogs for years.
However, Twitter plans to post those ReTweets in a different way. The ReTweet will appear as a regular Tweet, with the avatar of the original Tweeter and everything but underneath, it will say "ReTweeted by so and so" in tiny text.
I do not like this idea at all. Neither does Dan Zarella, arguably the most knowledgeable of the ReTweeting trend. He has done studies on ReTweeting. He is a big ReTweeting geek (that's meant with the nicest sentiments).
Writing on his blog, Zarella explains:
I follow people because I trust and enjoy their point of view, I don't nessecarily trust the POV of people I don't follow, so using the original poster's picture and name in my timeline destroys any social proof the ReTweeter may have lent the Tweet.
I agree. I want it to be obvious when something is a ReTweet. I think I even pay attention to ReTweets more because the nature of a ReTweet is something cool and/or newsworthy or something we wish we'd said but didn't think of it.
Having said that, many people ReTweet using the "via" formula. This happens automatically with some desktop clients. The designer behind the Twitter adoption of ReTweeting does and therefore, that must explain why she designed the new feature that way.
Twitter should just add a simple feature that allows BOTH. Let those who wish to ReTweet do so and those who wish to Via do so. Plus, Twits should be allowed to decide how they would like to view the shared Tweets. Doing away with a popular format that most likely helped spread the use of Twitter does not seem like a smart move to me.
But what's YOUR opinion? Comment below.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on August 14, 2009 2:15 PM
Comments
I don't think this Dan Zarella has any worries over this retweet thing, or anyone else for that matter, the tweet has to show up in search first
and the tweet doesn't, I have 3 tweets that can only be seen on the twiiter page no where else
only I can see them, they just stopped showing up
and I doubt I'm alone... so this retweet has no concern...
JustaPayne August 14, 2009 9:07 PM
I, personally, in actuality Re-tweet a great deal, actually. And as mentioned, it's quite often been said by another buy certainly needs to be resaid . . . and resaid. It's also fun to pass around certain things that are amusing but said by another person. It's all good.
David Gibson August 15, 2009 3:31 PM
Retweeting has come from the Twitter community, they developed it and it works. Why tinker with something that is doing the job perfectly well. Surely the essence of Twitter is communication succintly and informally. Totally agree with Nathania and Dan Zerella. Embrace the Retweet, don't change it.
carricklass August 18, 2009 4:48 AM
This is funny. I guess i am all against the twitting activity...It is aimless...
MGA August 18, 2009 1:37 PM
