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Twitter Sticks With New Retweet Format, Despite Complaints

by Terrence O'Brien on November 13, 2009 at 01:15 PM

Despite Complaints Twitter Sticking With New Retweets
Twitter has been going feature crazy over the past several months. First, it began attaching geolocation information to Tweets. Then it introduced lists, for sharing and for organizing the people you're following. Now, the micro-blogging service is rolling out a standardized format for retweets. While the location data is usually out of the average user's view, the new format for retweets is an obvious change to Twitter's basic interface. And, as Facebook users do every time that site so much as shifts a pixel, tweeters have erupted in revolt.

The new format for retweets replaces the familiar, if clumsy, "RT @username" with an icon that indicates a message is a retweet. Otherwise, it looks identical to the original message. This means that you might see messages in your Twitter feed that appear to come from users you don't follow. This has apparently caused some serious confusion among users, including Justine Bateman from 'Family Ties.'

The outcry has been loud enough to drive Twitter founder Evan Williams to post on his personal blog -- something he hasn't done since March. Williams explained some of the thinking that went into the design, and the need for such a standardized format. For one, he explains, different clients handle retweets differently. Additionally, if someone retweets a retweet, the text quickly becomes messy. The new format clarifies who originally posted a message, and also combines multiple retweets into one entry. This means that even if a dozen of your friends repost the same message, it will only appear once in your Twitter feed. Formalizing the feature also makes it possible to track retweets, so that you can -- at a glance -- see who you've retweeted or who has retweeted you.

Despite the influx of complaints about the new retweet feature, we're in complete agreement with our friends over at DownloadSquad, who put it quite simply, "This is the new way of things on Twitter, and it's actually pretty cool." So sit down, shut up, and get used to it. And, please, don't force us to use the word "retweet" this many times in a post ever again. [From: DownloadSquad, evhead, and Twitter Blog]

Tags: retweet, retweets, socialnetworking, top, twitter

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