Apparently, some more metrics on our tweets are just what is missing in our lives during a global pandemic. Or at least that’s what Twitter thinks.
As reported by of edge, Twitter is testing a new feature that would show users the amounts of “Retweets with commentsOn every tweet. Strikingly, however, this metric, which Twitter calls “Quotes”, is already available to users. All you have to do is click on the “Retweets and comments ” section under tweets, which sends you to a handy list that lets you easily see how many retweets and retweets with comments a tweet has.
What else is there about this new thing that Twitter is testing? It basically just show you how many quotes does a tweet have next to the likes and retweets on the tweet itself instead of you clicking to see it.
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A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the new feature to the Verge and said that the purpose of this new test was to see if this new feature made retweets with comments easier to find and understand.
“A few months ago, we made retweets with comments more visible if you tap to see Retweets on a Tweet, ”the Twitter spokesperson said. “This is available to everyone. Now, we’re testing Retweets with comments directly accessible on the Tweet and New Language (Quotes) to see if this makes them more accessible and understandable. ‘
The retweet button is one of Twitter’s most criticized features. Some say it’s the reason the platform can sometimes (I’m friendly here) look like a swamp of anger, misinformation and bullying. But why? Because it’s easy and fast for people to spread things they do not read and spread hatred as radical remarks.
Last year, the developer who created the Twitter retweet button said he was sorry to do so, by saying that it was the equivalent of “hand[ing] a 4-year-old with a loaded weapon, ”per Buzzfeed News.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has admitted that he is also investigating the retweet button. He told Buzzfeed that retweeting with comments “might encourage more encouragement before they are spread.”
In recent months, Twitter has launched a series of features to try to promote more informed conversations, including trying to encourage people to actually read the things they retweet by asking if they want to open the article before sharing it and adding fact checking extensions to certain tweets – e.g. President Donald Trump’s—That spread blatantly false information.
Personally I do not know if just adding another number under certain tweets will help to stop the spread of hate and misinformation. It’s not like Twitter stops people from actually telling dangerous information. But who knows, maybe the Twitter test will prove me wrong.
[The Verge]
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