Retweeting is the act of re-posting another Twitter user’s comments under your own username, and crediting the other user by inserting the text “RT @username” in front of the forwarded message. (Replacing username with the original author’s Twitter handle.)
Twitter users know the power of the retweet. It is the engine which drives viral topic reach on Twitter. It is also a convention which originated with Twitter users due to a lack of formal accreditation on Twitter.
All that’s about to change now. Twitter recently announced it will formally incorporate retweeting into its service. Mashable’s Van Grove explains–
They’re opening up the flood gates so that developers can tap into the four new APIs and update their applications, or build new ones, in preparation for the official release, which is expected to happen in just a few weeks.
Twitter’s ability to listen to its users when determining its product development is a model for other companies. The use of mentions (sending a publicly-visible message to another Twitter user by placing @username at the front of your message) was another innovation that had its origins in user-initiated etiquette.
I can’t wait to see what this looks like when it goes live.
Project Retweet: The End of RTs as We Know Them?.
