Twitter has rolled out a new feature to its platform that shows how many ‘Quote Tweets’ a tweet gets alongside retweets and likes.
For those who don’t spend much time on Twitter, the platform allows users to interact with tweets in several ways. Retweets essentially repost someone else’s tweet on your profile. Likes are, well, likes — pretty self-explanatory. Quote tweets, on the other hand, make for a more intriguing interaction.
Quote tweets exist halfway between a retweet and a reply, letting users tweet about a tweet that is embedded within their tweet, which sounds like Christopher Nolan designed a social media interaction. Quote tweets serve as a great way for Twitter users to show their strong agreement or disagreement with another user’s tweet.
The shift follows some other recent changes the social media platform made to its app. Twitter recently pushed retweets and comments into their own space along with standard retweets. However, this change seems to undo that by splitting quote tweets back into a separate place.
Tweets about a Tweet add more to the conversation, so we’ve made them even easier to find.
Retweets with comments are now called Quote Tweets and they've joined the Tweet detail view. Tap into a Tweet, then tap "Quote Tweets" to see them all in one place. pic.twitter.com/kMqea6AC80
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) August 31, 2020
Additionally, Twitter also recently allowed users to limit who can reply to their tweets. While the feature can help cut down on spam replies, harassment and more, quote tweets were a way around that restriction. Highlighting quote tweets and making them more accessible could further negate the reply limitations feature.
Still, I welcome the addition of a quote tweet shortcut. Often when people tweet poor takes, some of the best content can be found in others quote tweeting it and making jokes.
Source: Twitter
