I can safely assume that you are a Twitter user, most of our readers are. It matters little how many people who you follow, a large number of your incoming tweets are retweets. These tweets begin “RT @someonedull” and continue with a recycled tweet.
Everyone uses Twitter differently, some people preferring to follow a large number of people, and some like myself who do not. A retweeted tweet is supposed to be something of importance. That is, interesting enough to pass along.
I agree that there are tweets of such interest. However, (watching my @ influx on TweetDeck), I think now that the noise coming from @ tagged retweets is going to gag the use of Twitter somewhat.
If I post something, and it gets eight retweets and a comment, the comment often gets lost. In it being lost, I cannot find the person that wanted to discuss what is at hand.
Also, when a retweet is tagged with someone else’s name (the original tweeter, or perhaps the last two), the conversation is recycled backwards to the original poster. This centralizes the conversation, and cuts out people ‘down the tree.’
Now, of course I understand the desire to give credit where it is due. If I find something damned interesting, then you might want to say thanks for the find. But you already did. You chose to follow me, giving me that dabble of credence from your account (and thus you), so you have already said thanks.
I can hardly speak for anyone else, and I cannot at least for now change the way I retweet, (it would probably be taken an offensive from people who did not agree to what I have mind), however I can make a small request. When you want to retweet me, just take the tweet, and cut the ‘RT @alex’ out of it.
As long as you found it interesting, and want to share it, and follow me, I am content. After all, I just want that tweet to get more exposure, not myself. Take the conversation, and distribute it.
If I have yet to make my point clear, this is what I am trying to avoid continuing:
No offense Bjorn, you were just first in TweetDeck. That tweet has two important bits: the tweet and the link. I do not need the mention of who wrote it (@thenextweb); assuming that I follow each person that I do for a reason, I can expect them to not link-jack me. And after all, they can only do it once.
So I could take that tweet, and do this with it:
I think that we can all agree that the second tweet is simpler to read, easier to follow, and will save you time. You no longer have to dig through the chaff to see if you want to eat the wheat.
So, don’t retweet me in the traditional way, please. Just take what you find, and pass it along. If you tell me that I can do the same, I will. Hell, we could revolutionize this retweet concept.
Twitter however, wants retweets to look like this:
If you have yet to get ‘official’ retweets, relax. You are missing little. What do you think? Drop th RT @, or is it really just too special?
Alex Wilhelm is a Chicago-based technology blogger and entrepreneur. He has worked for a number of technology companies in recent years, and has a particular interest in watching the social web monetize. Follow Alex on Twitter, or on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at alex@thenextweb.com
