Twitter has been rolling out new features for its web interface to small groups to get feedback and then onto full roll out. It did this with Twitter Lists. Over the weekend, I noticed that Twitter's beta retweet feature was available on my account and played around with it.
Brian Solis picks out what's interesting about it.
The new retweet feature is particularly interesting as it organizes your experience directly at Twitter.com much in the same way third-party clients such as Tweetdeck and Seesmic have offered all along. Unlike these desktop applications however, Twitter.com remains as the pervasive interface for engaging on Twitter. For example, your lists, real-time search results, DMs, Twitter stream, and now retweets are key pillars to the personal experience at Twitter.com. For most users, the new retweet functionality, combined with important, cached searches (including your username), the need to stray from Twitter’s online hub begins to dissipate.
Woodsy Owl: Give A Hoot, Don't Retweet Pollute!
The new feature makes re-tweeting a single step versus a two-step process. What I don't like about it is that I can't add my own two cents about Tweet. By making it so easy to retweet messages will this cause an explosion of too much information on Twitter?
I thought about Woodsy Owl. Woodsy has been USDA Forest Service's environmental champion since 1970, and is most recognized for his wise request, "Give a hoot. Don't Pollute." That was before we had to deal with the amount of digital information we deal with daily from our email, Twitter, and social streams. So, give a hoot, don't retweet pollute.
And with more retweets, the more likely it is that you will see duplicate retweets. This points to the need for more filters better at filtering than our human brains or relying on changes of human behavior. Louis Gray recently reviewed a new product under development, called Cadmus. It filters your real time streams to group similar posts in your feeds to reduce the noise. The service currently works on your Twitter account, your FriendFeed account, or on any number of blogs you add. You can also add many RSS feeds at once via OPML.
This is on my list for 2010, to take a deeper dive in filtering tools. Maybe I'm just behind on getting fluent on filtering tools and thus finding the duplication annoying.
What filtering tools are you using to avoid information overload or "too much retweeting"?
Filtering Resources
I'm a bit torn about the new RT feature. I like that it's so easy to RT. I don't like that you can't edit the RT (either to edit out something superflous or add in your own comments).
I also have questions about whether or not the RTs are showing up in people's regular timelines. They don't seem to be, but I might just be missing something.
I know that Twitter is really trying hard to get more and more market share away from some of the third-party tools and back to its own web site, and this new RT (along with the list feature) certainly do that. I just wish they had either aligned the RT functionality more with what people are already doing and/or called it something different (like "like" or "share").
Posted by: twitter.com/Sue_Anne | November 09, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Should be 'rolls out', not 'roles out'.
Posted by: Stephen Downes | November 09, 2009 at 02:22 PM
fixed .. love crowdsourcing copy editing .. thanks!
Posted by: Beth | November 09, 2009 at 03:40 PM
We've been playing around with a crowd-sourced retweet app (http://RT.water.org) with some success. Essentially it's an easy way for non-profits like us to get "donors" to spread the word. About once every other week we post a tweet to the app and about 200 donors have it retweeted automatically for us. You can see it in action by following http://bit.ly/3gdScW
The goal is to spread the word. I know, I know, Woodsy the Owl might have an issue with it but when you're looking to give people an easy way to help an non-profit it's a nice compromise.
Posted by: Mike | November 09, 2009 at 09:24 PM
thanks for your comment. With information filtering failures aside, what do you easy retweet encourages slacktivism or not?
Posted by: Beth | November 09, 2009 at 09:36 PM
Yes I suppose it encourages slacktivism. Our goal is to let people engage with us on their terms. Leading the charge is great, money is good, demonstrating interest is at least something too. If we believe the social capital concept around social media then in a way it might be a very big donation.
Posted by: Mike | November 09, 2009 at 10:01 PM
I continue to be perplexed as to why it's taken Twitter this long to even begin integrating these types of features into the site. I certainly like the direction they are heading but it seems ridiculous to not be able to alter the RT. One of the great parts about an RT is to add your own two cents to help contextualize for your followers. I also can't see ever fully switching over to twitter.com until they add in a shortening tool or the option for an auto URL shorten. Hopefully that's high up on their To Do list.
Posted by: Scott Meis | November 10, 2009 at 05:59 AM
This new feature could be potentially dangerous in that people may go nuts on retweeting. Still, this is probably why Twitter released the Lists feature beforehand. We’ll see what happens with this limited release.
Posted by: Alyse Speyer | November 10, 2009 at 08:58 AM
I'm going to continue to use TweetDeck because of the auto shortening on my own tweets and the ability to add to my RTs. Right now, I'm not following so many people that the list function is really crucial, although it will get to that point I'm sure. My guess is also that TweetDeck will incorporate the lists...or not? Are third parties prohibited from adding these features? I really think that the ability to add and delete with the RT is something people are not going to want to give up. I can't understand why Twitter didn't incoporate that.
Posted by: Joanne Fritz | November 10, 2009 at 03:47 PM
Joanne: Thanks for your comment! There is actually a Twitter List API - so expect all sorts of fun stuff. I think sesmic or some other aps have started to incorporate it - stay tuned. B
Posted by: Beth | November 10, 2009 at 04:23 PM
Hi, Beth -- in the short-run, any beta-users should be careful when using the RT feature because many third party clients aren't rendering the tweets. At least two iPhone apps are (Tweetie2 and Tweetelator) but Tweetdeck and others aren't.
http://wiredpen.com/2009/11/07/new-twitter-rt-link-use-caution/
(PS - The "login with Twitter" link didn't work. Typepad got lost.
Posted by: Kathy Gill | November 11, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Hadn't heard this angle. I actually think that the effect of the new ReTweet button (if it lasts in its current form) will be the OPPOSITE of what you describe. That is, because it is so much less useful as a viral Social catalyst than the "organic" RT (and I love that Twitter boss Evan Williams uses "organic" as a bad word), I think it will lead to fractured use of the RT conventions and an eventual decline in the number of RTs.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Check my Twiterloo post at Beg to Differ for tips on fighting the new RT monster.
Posted by: Dennis Van Staalduinen | November 13, 2009 at 05:30 AM
I think sharing content via RT's is one of the reasons why people are primarily using Twitter to get their information. And so with Cadmus we are trying to ensure that we filter out duplicate and similar content. We are also working on sorting the stream by relevance by figuring out relationships between the people you follow.
Jay
Founder, Anomaly Innovations
Posted by: twitter.com/jayair | November 13, 2009 at 10:31 AM
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Posted by: Anushka | November 16, 2009 at 04:33 AM