Last June, Twitter began testing a new feature “Read Before Retweet” aimed at urging users to think before retweeting articles they hadn’t read, and now it has announced expanding the feature to be made available to all users
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During the last period, testing the feature was limited to Twitter users on the Android system in English, and in it – if a user decides to retweet an article before reading it – the site’s application will ask him to open the article before he does so.
“Sharing an article may spark conversation between users, so you may want to read it before posting it on Twitter,” the site said at the time. “To help foster an informed discussion, we are testing a new claim on Twitter that we may ask you want to open first when you retweet an article that you didn’t open on Twitter,” he added.
Twitter said in a tweet posted on Thursday: The increase in the number of users who are now reading articles after seeing the claim has reached about 40 percent, while the increase in the number of users who open articles before retweeting has reached about 33 percent. He also said: Some users have retweeted the article after reading the article.
We shouldn't have to say this, but you should read an article before you Tweet it. https://t.co/Apr9vZb2iI
So, we’ve been prompting some people to do exactly that. Here’s what we’ve learned so far. ⤵️
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) September 24, 2020
And about the next steps, the site said in another tweet: It will make the claim smaller after viewing it for the first time, and it is also working to expand the feature soon to include users all over the world.
This feature is the latest from Twitter in its endeavor to reduce misinformation and encourage meaningful discussions on the platform. Early last month, the site launched its new feature that allows users to specify who can respond to their tweets, such as: restricting responses to everyone, the people who follow them, or the people they mention in their tweets.
And in recent months, the site has launched additional features, such as: the ability to hide specific responses to Tweets. It is also testing a clearer interface for threaded conversations on its platform.
It is also noteworthy that Twitter has begun testing the direct voice messages feature that allows users to record voice messages and send them via direct messages to friends and family members on the platform, similar to what is found on Facebook and Instagram.
