Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Marla Erwin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:47:28 -0000

"...the reasoning behind excluding the feature at launch was primarily to get people comfortable with the concept of retweeting in general. Once the feature is ingrained, he said, adding in commenting functionality to the native retweet function is a very high probability..."

Translated: "We're going to break this feature, then slowly introduce fixes, because we want you to do it the new way before we let you do it the old way."

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

DJ Wait — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:46:51 -0000

But in many ways I think it does subtract from old functionality. It changes the overall experience. You'll suddenly see people in your stream that you don't follow. You'll probably see a lot more tweets in your stream. There will be quite a few changes that may subtract from our traditional use.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

richardmin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:48:37 -0000

definitely will continue old syntax for a while.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Brandon Eley — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:26:47 -0000

I think this is going to create a lot of confusion at first, but then you also have to think about what percentage of Twitter users retweet right now. I don't have numbers, but I'd imagine it's pretty low and consists mainly of power users. So for the majority of people, implementing this feature will be their first real introduction to retweeting and they'll likely be just fine with it.

I'm interested to see how third party apps implement the feature though... I rarely visit the actual website. I think their implementation of the feature is far more important to how it is received.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

jeux pc — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:28:39 -0000

If there’s more than 100 retweets, a sensible API would offer paginations. Failing that, they should at least give you the count of retweets, but the mockup image (which MG linked to) says “100+ users”, so they oddly don’t even give you that.

There’s the potential for Digg-esque mashups, but only if the API provides you with the retweet tally!

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

maique — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:33:35 -0000

i'll keep on using the (via @xxxxxx) format, and adding comments along the way. that's the way i've been using it, that's the way i'll keep doing it.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Social Mix — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:14:27 -0000

Will Twitter be any better off with people who don't understand what a retweet is and think syntax is a tax on the stupid?

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

@jaycdunn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:09:04 -0000

I guess they don't want to confuse new and casual users with something as mind bogglingly difficult to grasp as comments. But we'll still be able to use the current retweet format, so it's not a problem for me. I suspect a lot of power users will not use the new retweet feature until comments are enabled. I wrote a short tongue-in-cheek blog post about this yesterday.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Lars-Christian — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:00:51 -0000

So they are essentially just copying the Facebook "Like" feature? It seems somewhat pointless in my opinion, and I can't see how it will add much to the community other than confusion, especially for new users who aren't familiar with the classic retweeting standard as created by the community.

I also agree with the sentiment that instead of encouraging discussion it will numb down people and make way for a whole lot more pointless retweeting and on the whole create more clutter.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

jaycclee — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:55:21 -0000

People who use twitter already know what is a retweet/RT. For the new comer, they can probably pick up retweet real quick. "...to get people comfortable with the concept of retweeting in general" is totally bullshit.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Kat Nagel — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:46:08 -0000

Without comments, most (not all) retweets seem like lazy excuses for not posting something original. I prefer to add value when possible, so will certainly continue to use traditional retweets, even if I have to do it manually with copy/paste.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Andy Coats — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:42:21 -0000

RT @Josh So very true! Who knows a regular Twitter user who doesn't already know all about retweeting? Even new users should be familiar with it within a few hours...

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

teaneedz — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:32:28 -0000

An unfortunate product decision ... A good product manager should have really fought this battle for users ... Sounds like it's going to be released before being truly ready to create a solid user experience. This will simply add to newbie confusion with two formats existing side by side and the official one lacking annotation features that users have demanded. Is anyone creating a legit PRD anymore? An opportunity lost by Twitter ...

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Andrew Hazlett — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:25:58 -0000

For some reason, my thick skull had not allowed me to realize that "classic retweets" might still be possible in the new regime. To be honest, I could see myself using both forms quite a bit. Sometimes no comment is necessary, other times, I just want to give credit before reframing someone else's tweeted link.

As long as they are *adding* functionality without subtracting "older traditions" of twitter, I have no objection.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

jebswebs — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:14:10 -0000

I have always used the convention of adding 2 colons then comment (RT @name... :: my comments), but only if there's room. I guess I would welcome the opportunity to add more.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Wolfie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:12:42 -0000

If you can't comprehend the concept of retweeting within about 10 minutes, then Twitter is probably too complicated for you to use at all.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

richrecruiter — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:07:23 -0000

That's good news, I'm in favor of no commenting on retweets. And the people that can't adapt to the official method I'll just unfollow.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Ernesto Priego — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:54:20 -0000

I would keep using the "classic" one. I do not always comment when I RT, but I like the possibility to do so. Also, retweeting something does not automatically mean one endorses (or even "favorite") a tweet or link. This would also make people think that attribution (or even thinking about the material you are retweeting) is not important.

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

$19660765 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:52:38 -0000

Why they making it more difficult than it is on my iPhone with TwitterFon?

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Josh — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:51:54 -0000

So very true! Who knows a regular Twitter user who doesn't already know all about retweeting? Even new users should be familiar with it within a few hours (If I'm not exaggerating, of course).

Re: Twitter: No Commenting on Retweets at Launch

Baylink — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:42:57 -0000

Lowest Common Denominator, my ass. UberTwitter, on my blackberry, *shows me* what a posting is a reply to, which the website can't be bothered to do.