(Update: As of now, I no longer have the new Retweet function. Hopefully when it comes back it won’t render my screencast completely useless…)
Over the past few days Twitter has been rolling out the new Retweet functionality and I was finally graced with the controversial feature last night. My first take? I don’t get it. But after spending some time reading about it and clicking various links in my Twitter account, I think I figured it out. Of course, when something takes me a bit of time to understand I immediately realize that there are probably more people like me out there…and that makes it screencast material.
When you opt to click on “Retweet”, the next step is to just select “yes” and that tweet will be forwarded to your followers. I say forwarded because it will take the original users tweet, with their twitter icon and all, and place it in your followers Twitter streams. You’ll be given credit underneath the tweet, but the person who originated the text will get the credit. There’s no more need to alter the original text so that you can fit in, “RT @molzy RT @maureenmcd,” and the content will be delivered to your followers as it was meant to be seen, by the original author. If someone you follow tends to Retweet nonsense that you have no interest in then you can simply visit their profile page and opt out of receiving their Retweets.
I’ve noticed a lot of grumbling about the new Retweet feature and frankly, I don’t see why. You can still Retweet the old way (RT @someone RT @anotherperson RT @thisisgettingconfusing) and you won’t be punished for it. Personally I don’t see why adding unnecessary text to another persons tweet is beneficial. If you didn’t originally write the text, but you think it would be useful to your followers, why not just forward the authors work and be done with it?
If you’re still on the fence about the new feature, or if you simply don’t get it, then check out the screencast below to see my take on the new Twitter Retweet (best viewed in HD in full screen):
