Backtype releases a Tweetmeme Retweet Button Competitor

To those frequent visitors of TheNextWeb, you may have noticed a slightly different ‘retweet’ button on our posts. The original is designed and developed by retweeting fanatics, Tweetmeme.com. This new button is in fact from another awesome team, the guys & gals at comment tracking service and YCombinator graduate, Backtype.

In a slightly unexpected move, Backtype has created its own version of the button with a number of options that are likely to catch your attention.

The button’s primary advantages over Tweetmeme’s include customizable color options, no requirement to include a (via @backtype or via @tweetmeme) (now Tweetmeme can do the same), integration with awe.sm so you can technically use your own custom domains, and any site can have their own domain included at the start, i.e. RT @yourdomain.

The big question is, is it worth shifting alliance and dropping the Tweetmeme button for Backtype’s, If I had to give a quick response, I’d probably say no. However it really does depend on how important color customization and Backtype’s more ‘open’ agenda, is to you. In my discussions with Nick Halstead, Tweetmeme’s founder, the plan is to incorporate all the above and more in the very short term.

The major advantage of Tweetmeme’s integration is its ability to retweet posts without having to leave the post itself (if you’re logged in to Tweetmeme). For publishers, this is a pretty big deal as it means keeping visitors on the site longer. Tweetmeme also has big plans for integrating analytics into the app, making it possible to track when and who made your post so popular. Backtype has similar plans although nothing concrete has been set just yet. Tweetmeme is also launching a number of badges/buttons for your site, similar to feedburner or twitter, they show the number of retweets your site has had within a certain period.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a matter of person choice. For many, the idea of in depth analytics and retweeting without leaving the page itself, just aren’t a big enough grab. For us, and many other professional blogs out there, they are.  The decision, as they say, is yours…

If you’re a wordpress user you can download the plugin from here, if not, this is what you are looking for.

Gotta love competition.