Retweet

The retweet is one of the most commonly used tools on Twitter, and is a great way to pass on interesting tweets that you have read with your followers. Twitter offers two ways of retweeting, manual and automatic, each with their own set of pros and cons. Keep reading to learn both methods of retweeting.

Steps

Automatic Retweeting

  1. Know when to use automatic retweeting. Automatic retweeting basically involves clicking the retweet button Twitter provides. This will immediately share the tweet with your followers, without giving you the option to add a comment. It is a good option if you want to retweet something in a hurry, or if you have nothing to add.
  2. Hover your cursor over the tweet you want to retweet. You should see a "Retweet" link in the lower right hand corner, between the "Reply" and "Favorite" options. Click on the "Retweet" option.
  3. Confirm the retweet. After clicking on the retweet option, a pop-up will appear displaying the highlighted tweet, asking you to confirm the retweet. Click the "Retweet" button on the bottom right hand corner.
  4. Understand that the tweet will now be shared with all of your followers. The tweet will automatically show up on your followers' feeds and on your own account as a retweet. The original tweeter's name will appear at the top of the tweet, while yours will appear at the bottom, beside the retweet symbol.

Manual Retweeting

  1. Know when to use manual retweeting. Manual retweeting, also known as classic retweeting, is when you copy and paste a tweet into the text box and tweet it from your own account. It is generally thought of as a better way to retweet, as it allows you to add your own questions and comments to the tweet (as long as you keep the entire thing under 140 characters). With this option, there is also a better chance that the original tweeter will notice your retweet.[1]
    • With the classic Twitter web interface you will need to manually copy and paste the text you wish to retweet, however when you use Twitter on the iPhone, or get the "Classic Retweet" extension for Chrome or Firefox, they will automatically copy the text while still giving you the option to edit before posting.[2]
    • Be aware that manually retweeting content without adding comment is viewed as poor Twitter etiquette in many circles, as it appears as though you are taking credit for the tweet, while also denying the original tweeter the possibility of gaining more retweets.[3]
  2. Start a new tweet with the prefix "RT". This is an abbreviation of the word "retweet". Follow the letter RT with a single space.
    • It is also possible to simply write the word "retweet", but this is not very efficient, especially when you're limited to 140 characters!
  3. Write "@" and the username of the person you're retweeting. Only the username is required, not the person or company's full name. For example, if you wanted to retweet wikiHow, you would write "RT @wikihow".
    • This step is necessary to give credit to the original tweeter and to make sure that the retweet appears in their feed.[4]
  4. Copy the tweet you want to share with your followers. Paste it into the text box, after the "RT @ username". Delete any unnecessary characters and double check URLs for accuracy.
    • If the text is too long, you can abbreviate it by changing "and" to "&" and "to" to "2", etc. However, be wary of making any changes that alter the meaning of the tweet, or of omitting important details.
  5. Add your own comment to the tweet. As long as the whole tweet stays under 140 characters, you can add any comments or questions before you post. Usually people will write in their own content before the "RT", at the start of the tweet, but it is also possible to include the comment after the copied content.
    • Your own comment doesn't need to be long or very deep -- it can be something as simple as "Love this!" or "Must read!".
    • As long as your comment is saying something positive, your retweet can be seen as a compliment to the original tweeter and may even get you a reply!
  6. Click the "Tweet" button to post. Post the tweet as normal. It will show up in your followers' feeds as well as in the feed of the original tweeter.

Tips

  • Some third party programs (e.g. TweetDeck) have different retweeting methods and tools.
  • An alternative format for manual retweeting is to copy and paste the tweet and write "(via @____) at the end.
  • Note that with Twitter's automatic retweeting, you can't edit the tweet, which is seen as limiting by some.[5]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/27675/How-to-Retweet-the-Right-Way-in-4-Easy-Steps.aspx
  2. ↑ http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57576211-285/edit-or-comment-before-you-retweet-with-classic-retweet/
  3. ↑ http://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/the-latest-twitter-trend-manual-retweet-shaming
  4. ↑ https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169873-retweeting-another-person-s-tweet
  5. ↑ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355723,00.asp
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