What’s the point in fixing something, if that something isn’t broken? That’s what many Twitter users are saying since Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO, made the decision to do an experiment with a few of his product’s users.
With Twitter’s user engagement down and it’s user growth being stagnate at 241 million, Twitter has decided to try something new. What would you do if you were Twitter and user-ship was down? Why not try swapping out the “retweet” button for a “share” button on a small population of your users accounts?
Twitter, like any smart company, constantly tests product tweaks and uses the data from their reactions to inform future product releases, according to this Business Insider article. This just happens to be one of the instances where the tested product tweak wasn’t favorable by the public. While the “share” button does exactly the same action as it’s older counterpart, people really do seem to be partial to what they’ve come to know and love.
Judging by the vast majority of the reactions by its users, Twitter will not be killing off the “retweet” button anytime soon. The common verbiage by twitter users has always been “favoriting,” “following,” and the ultimate example of a successful tweet, “retweeting.”
Sharing happens everywhere – Facebook, your smartphone, elementary school, etc. Retweeting, on the other hand, is unique and shouldn’t be touched.
Are you in favor of Twitter dropping the term “retweet” in favor of Twitter “comments” and “shares” – Yes or No?
