Twitter is testing a new way to track Retweets with Comments (now called “Quotes”) directly from your timeline.
Earlier this year, the social network gave iOS, Android, and web users the ability to see Retweets with Comments in one place: Click on “Retweets” to see who annotated the original post with text, photos, videos, and GIFs. Now it’s experimenting with in-line Quotes metrics “to see if this makes them easier to access and more understandable,” a company spokesperson told The Verge. A user screenshot, published by the tech news blog, suggests the number of Quotes per tweet will appear next to existing data on Retweets and Likes.
Rather than a major overhaul, the change basically eliminates the need to click “Retweets” to see how many people are engaging with your original content by adding their own remarks, versus those simply sharing it with a wider audience. There is no word on when, or if, Twitter will implement the new feature more widely. The firm did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.
The Retweet button has long been a source of criticism from folks who claim it fuels misinformation and bullying by allowing people to spread fake news and hatred with a single tap. Even developer Chris Wetherell regrets creating the function, equating it to “[handing] a four-year-old a loaded weapon,” he told BuzzFeed last year.
Twitter is taking steps to better distinguish fact and fiction, most recently adding a pop-up that prompts Android users to actually read an article before just retweeting the link. It also pulled a video in July featuring a Linkin Park cover, posted by Donald Trump’s social media director and retweeted by the president.
