Visit Kathy Gill's column >>

KATHY GILLHome Page

Writer, Political Junkie, Educator
Add To Watchlist
Articles Posted: 149; Links Seeded: 100
Member Since: 1/2006Last Seen: 11/23/2009

Use Caution With New Twitter RT Link

News Type: Event — Sat Nov 7, 2009 11:07 PM EST
advertisement

For those of you who are in the Twitter "retweet" beta test, I have a word of advice: proceed cautiously.

Here's why. Currently, retweets that are executed via the Twitter web "retweet link" are visible to your followers who are using the web interface to read your tweets but are not visible to popular third party clients.

Let me say that a different way: popular third party applications are currently not displaying RTs executed via the Twitter web interface "retweet" link. In other words, these retweets are MIA in a follower's timeline in popular third-party clients. The exception: Tweetie2.

This may be a "cart before the horse" problem. In other words, third party applications may not have had a chance to integrate the new API. Or it may be that Twitter privileged Tweetie2 developers. I don't know.

But if most of your followers read your tweets using third party desktop clients, this "bug" could have a serious impact on your personal retweet rate in the short-term. Experiment wisely. And mindfully.

See the story in pictures on WiredPen.

  • 4 Votes
  • Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.

Back To Top

Published to:

What's this?
Who's leading the conversation?
This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.
3.8
{"commentId":10551491,"authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
Kathy Gill

Please shout if you are in the beta test have experimented with different clients -- do they or do they not show the new RTs?

{"commentId":10551491,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
    Reply#1 - Sat Nov 7, 2009 11:09 PM EST
    {"commentId":10569610,"authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
    Kathy Gill

    Another iPhone app that shows tweets RTed via the web interface: Twittelator.

    {"commentId":10569610,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
      Reply#2 - Mon Nov 9, 2009 4:31 AM EST
      {"commentId":10576401,"authorDomain":"divbyzero"}
      Division by Zero

      I've never been concerned about my personal retweet rate. Should I be?

      {"commentId":10576401,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"divbyzero"}
      • 4 votes
      Reply#3 - Mon Nov 9, 2009 1:42 PM EST
      {"commentId":10583194,"authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
      Kathy Gill

      If you are using Twitter for personal or organizational branding, then you would be interested in your RT rate -- or at least in your followers having the ability to see your RTs. :-)

      {"commentId":10583194,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
      • 1 vote
      #3.1 - Mon Nov 9, 2009 6:37 PM EST
      {"commentId":10685497,"authorDomain":"fugitive247"}
      fugitive247

      RT rates aside, there's still the courtesy conundrum of protected tweets. At times it can be a real challenge to respect a friend's right to Twitter privacy when they've shared some RT-worthy brilliance.

      {"commentId":10685497,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"fugitive247"}
      • 2 votes
      #3.2 - Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:15 AM EST
      {"commentId":10840941,"authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
      Kathy Gill

      If the RT is a link, I don't see why you couldn't share. It it's a pithy quote, that's another story.

      {"commentId":10840941,"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387","authorDomain":"uspolitics"}
      • 1 vote
      #3.3 - Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:05 AM EST
      Reply
      {"commentId":10590833,"authorDomain":"fsjdak"}
      fsjdakDeleted
      {"canLink":false,"threadId":"719357","isPrivate":false}
      Leave a Comment:
      You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
      Newsvine Privacy Statement
      As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
      {"threadId":"719357","contentId":"3473387"}
      Start TrackingStart Tracking
      Stop TrackingStop Tracking
      Back To Top | Front Page