ReTweet.com, a TweetMeme challenger put together by Mesiab Labs (the startup behind notorious Twitter spam software program Hummingbird), has made its online debut after teasing the Twitterati with an announcement and landing page a couple of weeks ago.
You may remember that immediately after ReTweet.com coming out of the woodworks, TweetMeme was already threatening Mesiab Labs with a lawsuit over the latter’s flat out copying of its retweet button code and website design. Both startups aim to become the king of retweets, an increasingly popular activity on the increasingly popular Twitter service, and they’re clearly not competing on friendly terms.
(In the interest of full disclosure: we use TweetMeme’s retweet button here on the TechCrunch network)
Since ReTweet.com hadn’t yet launched when the online arguments between both startups began to heat up, it was hard to argue how similar both websites would turn out to be, although the screenshots provided suggested that they’d look much alike. And now that ReTweet.com is finally live, the similarity with TweetMeme is indeed striking:
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with inspiring one’s website design on another service, but considering the fact there are only two noteworthy players in this game and the heat had already been turned on by other events, it may have been wiser for Mesiab Labs to at least try and make it look different enough. But no, the lay-out, wording and color scheme of ReTweet.com is clearly a blatant rip-off, and I’m sure they intended it that way too.
I’m reluctant to take a side here, but having tracked Mesiab Labs and their despicable Hummingbird product for a number of months already (more on that later), I’m leaning towards sympathizing with TweetMeme here. They could use some competition for sure, but I’d rather see both companies compete based on merit and trying new things rather than fighting with words and fencing with lawsuit threats.
And to reiterate Erick’s earlier point: Twitter could well end up trademarking the term ‘retweet’ just like they did with the word ‘tweet’.
Update: also, @Retweet appears to be a suspended account.
To be continued, I’m sure.
Lets see who can be the first to find their copy+pasted code, like last time.
Will this do?
http://uk.techc...weetmemes-code/
The status of Google products says that it will ultimately get over soon. But wonder if they will and when is Google planning to launch/release these?
http://retweet.com/win10k
Holy crap I want to smash his face in.
Wow, I wish hadn’t taken the time to fact check your statement.
Yeah wow that video is pretty bad. Pretty lame competition too.
Ha, yeah, wow… Don’t play that video unless you have a strong stomach for lame content.
Already sucks.
They think because of the domain, they will have power. I don’t know how it will turn out, because they’ve got a lot of competition to defeat right now.
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That if you want to submit a link…maybe it’s TC effect or maybe not…
Love It!! haha, I just realized how crappy of a name tweetmeme is.. What does meme mean?
Really liking the retweet.com design. Great Work!!
I’m going to do the Techcrunch community a favor and point out each and every comment troll sent here by Mesiablabs, starting with this one.
> What does meme mean?
“A meme is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena.” [Wikipedia]
You’d never come across the term ‘meme’ before? Really? Really really? Wow.
To be fair, no regular people have a clue what a meme is. You think they do ? Really ?
And I still don’t get why this is being written about as if it’s the first time a site has launched with similarities to one already doing well in the space.
Regarding comments about the domain, of course domains matter. How is this even a debate ? Especially as they appear to be positioning themselves as a more mainstream site.
All this resentment is a bit disproportionate and feels like some bullshit circling of the wagons by the tech community.
If by ‘regular’ you mean ‘illiterate’ and / or ‘have lived in a bloody cave for the last ten years’ then you’re probably right.
I usually don’t make these kinds of remarks, but given that you were the first to turn the blatant judgmental prejudice mode on, here goes:
Get over yourself.. I know at least fifty people that can’t define “meme”, but are perfectly capable of having a fun conversation, without exuberantly pointing out their supremacy over people with lesser intellectual background.
P.s.: Next time you’re acting like a jerk, don’t link to your business.
Sure does feel a lot like Tweetmeme. I wish the search button worked, too. It would also be great if I could set filters and subscribed to keyword via RSS… for example, view RSS feed for keyword “X” only if it has 100 RTs or more. I know this is first launch, so really looking forward to future iterations.
Tweetmeme just looks like a digg rip-off.
They’re both based on a generic idea built on the back of someone else’s service. Neither deserves publicity.
Yep, that was my thought too — they both just look like vague Digg design rip-offs. That there would be any discussion of “originality” is laughable.
I think that Retweet has the domain but tweetmeme has the design.
Seriously, who the hell cares about domain names? They have little to no bearing on how successful a web2.0 website will be. Hell, even Twitter started out with twittr.com and it didn’t seem to slow them down. Del.icio.us was a terrible domain name too but they did pretty well for themselves.
Rather lame examples, Mark. If a domain name doesn’t matter, why is Twitter not still using twittr.com? And del.icio.us is one of the most clever domain names I’ve ever seen (although I don’t find their service particularly worth using, at least not for my needs). Claiming that domain names don’t matter is pretty ridiculous, coming from someone using an obviously-personal domain name. Why didn’t you go with rtghjasdf.com? Because people care about domain names — even you.
Mark, I’m going to do the Techcrunch community a favor and point out each and every comment troll sent here by TweetMeme, starting with this one.
I have to disagree, I think retweet looks way better than tweetmeme.
My opinion on retweet ripping off tweetmeme?
I don’t like it. BUT it happens all the time. I have had code I have created that manipulates the Ning platform, ripped off by other designers and claimed as their own.
You put in hours and hours, creating never before seen innovative techniques and code, just to see it duplicated months later! There is never an easy way to accept this when it happens to you.
Fact: Reverse engineering has been around for thousands of years! Even I am guilty of it at times!
Copy and pasting someones code and not removing as much information as you can that points back to the creator, Priceless!
“Cheers”
JP
http://twitter....atus/3407726207 hahah
…which looked a lot like twitturly.
To be honest, I like the ReTweet design more.
Good , keep it up.
Wow.. What a completely one sided article TechCrunch.. Saw the story on Twitter, came excited to read about a new service that is in BETA and this article sucked!
Cheers to Retweet.com for taking on tweetmeme! I like the site design much better, i’ll give you that for sure.
This would be Mesiablabs comment troll #2. Keep em’ comin’!
You’re going to have a lot of work ahead if it keeps up
i think this article is a bit unfair of retweet. Yeah, the idea is a ripoff and the design is similar, but that is sooo common on the web and is good for innovation. You cannot really say tweetmeme is that original.
Just evaluating them equally, I think retweet’s design is actually better, although barely. Its messed up though that they have a search button that does not work.
I’d rather see a techcrunch article evaluate their content(who surfaces better stories) rather then just feeding the fire of lawsuits and “word fencing”.
Wow techcrunch really??? That was a horrible blog article!
I’m not sure what you mean by Mesiab labs hummingbird being spammy either? You can’t even send a message from the application, for small businesses like me I wouldn’t even use Twitter if it weren’t for software creators like them. These guys give the little guys a fighting chance among the massive corporations and celebrities on Twitter.
Shame on you for writing something so biased!! Lossed a TC fan today :/
More on Hummingbird later.
I am a twitter user and I’ve been subjected to the affects of humming bird. It isn’t spam? It’s fucking awful and really makes the twitter experience horible.
i poop too much
You are a prophet.
Retweet.com is a feature lacking, poorly copied version of tweetmeme.com that’s “Top News” is over 3 hours old. At least tweetmeme, while copying some of digg, was innovative enough to use twitter for something nobody had thought of. The real irony is that they don’t track retweets, just like tweetmeme doesn’t. They track links! Anyone else notice this?
For real retweet tracking, you have to go to http://www.dailyrt.com.
Well, Tweetmeme has the strapline “The hottest links on Twitter” so I think they’re doing exactly what they say. If you look at one of their buttons, before the link gets posted to Twitter it says “Tweet” and only after the first one does it change to “Retweet”, which seems logical.
Looking at both (disclaimer, I use Tweetmeme) and Retweet seems to be lacking in features, a properly working site and the ability to Retweet a link without going to the Retweet site. With Tweetmeme, if you’re signed in, the site will automatically send the tweet without leaving the site you’re on, which is much more user friendly and makes for a better experience for site owners too.
I know tweetmeme has that strapline, new word to me thanks, but the terminology used in this article and most others about retweet.com versus tweetmeme implies that the competition is over retweets. The button aside, this is not a war of retweet sites. This is a war of sites that use links on twitter as their content where dailyrt.com uses the actual retweets twitter users make.
I love that their buttons “retweet” because it gives my site, http://www.dailyrt.com, better and more relevant content to mix in with retweets that don’t contain links.
Don’t these two sites show the most popular LINKS as opposed to the most popular TWEETS? So if a newsworthy, retweeted tweet doesn’t contain a link, it won’t even show up. Right?
Sites like dailyRT.com show the most popular (retweeted) tweets whether they contain a link or not.
How will a you know what link the RT is referring to if it doesn’t include the original link?
I’m referring to tweets that never included a link in the first place. For example, in the recent midair collision over the Hudson, witnesses tweeted what they saw: http://bit.ly/1MqVez and many of these tweets did not contain a link.
Assuming these tweets were to get retweeted, they would not show up on tweetmeme.com or retweet.com. The original tweets would, however, show up on dailyrt.com. This is citizen journalism at its best (with or without links).
The new Retweet API should solve that issue. Good point, though.
Ugly design. Reminds me of 2004.
I don’t use either of the services all though I’m more keen on the simplicity of TweetMeme’s design.
However, both site designs are similar at best — same features, sure. I’m sure the reason for the same navigational structure and UI design is because they are attempting to overtake TweetMeme and move it’s userbase to ReTweet. The best way to do that is to give the users a familiar system so it’s not too much of a change. And with a top-level domain name like ReTweet.com they will surely be able to get their foot in the door.
I just can’t believe there’s an entire post based upon the “blant” copying of a website that only appears similar. You could say TweetMeme looks similar to Digg, which looks like Delicious, Reddit, etc. Honestly, I think it’s all just speculation and common practice. Especially with the controversy over the ReTweet/TweetMeme’s “retweet” buttons, which look just like Digg’s button… common practice.
Except that Retweet actually did copy Tweetmeme. They held a design contest at 99designs last month where designers were able to see an alpha version of their site, which was identical to Tweetmeme. Navigation was identical, categories were copied verbatim, and in the contest they encouraged designers to try and make the site look like Tweetmeme, including the way that tweeters icons appeared next to their tweets. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that it was a total tipoff.
The fact that they look similar is not so bad; that could be a simple mistake. But they actually told the designers to copy Tweetmeme’s look, after they had already copied Tweetmeme’s functionality.
A complete and utter ripoff!
You morons, you had a chance to do something remarkable with the domain but you decide to be another copycat kid with no originality.
I thought the retweet logo was well done but that’s about it. shame
You must have not been around during the search engine wars! haha
Oh man! Retweet.com is stealing code again! i write about that here: http://twitters...-von-tweetmeme/ Screenshot include.
At first i wasn’t going to say anything but you guys know me, it’s just not my style. To cut it short, the guys who launched Retweet must be some of the biggest Morons I’ve seen in a long time.
That in itself would not upset me, but the pure fact that they just come along and bluntly copy not only the idea, but also the design, the way the site works, even the artwork up to the tiny Retweet button and the naming of the categories just makes me sick.
I understand that there are cultures where copying a product is a sign of appreciation, and if the guys behind Retweet have such a cultural background than that is a totally different story.
For now i assume they do not. For now, i assume they think that we all are idiots. Because rather than using their brains to invent something new, to at least try to modify an existing service in an intelligent way, to launch with at least one single innovative and new feature, they think they can get away with a cheap copy of something someone else created.
I understand that no one owns an idea completely. I also understand that Nick didn’t invented the first meme tracker ever. I also appreciate a competitive environment because i believe it ultimately results in better products.
What i f”@# hate is, if someone just comes along and takes what you have and put’s it right on his own head.
That’s what Retweet did! Well, the truth is they tried. If you take a close look at both services you will see that Tweetmeme is still way ahead. Nick and his team have some nice features like a live view and channels that were probably not that easy to copy.
Oh and sorry for the rant.
Tweetmeme has the benefits of an already existing user following but retweet.com has serious brand potential because the domain is shorter and more memorable, we use it in our twitter lingo as it is. For those twitter users who aren’t already committed to one of the websites retweet.com seems like the more immediate and logical choice for its name familiarity, people use the term retweet why wouldn’t they choose the site. A good domain makes a lot of difference in which website will get first click choice.
A good domain name has little to nothing to do with user adoption. Good service and innovative features are all that matters. You must be another one of these Mesiablab trolls.
Is it must me or is this guy Hella annoying!! What’s the point of this blog? Because as far as I can tell its for a bunch of whiners to see who can come up with the best complaint! If you ask me both of these website are retarted and would have never existed without DIGG
Don’t forget that Tweetmeme has their algorithm dialed in (in my opinion).
I have personally talked to Nick from Tweetmeme and I am thoroughly impressed with what they are and will be doing.
I share some of the opinions above. While the blatant ripoff sucks, I think this will only make Tweetmeme better in the long run.
lol, what algorithm?
It looks like twitter trademark request for tweet was rejected the sameday.
http://samj.net...-torpedoed.html
twittersphere.com – f*ck all the UI overhead
It’s “woodwork,” not “woodworks.”
That is all.
If something gets retweeted on either site, wouldn’t this show up in the other one as well? In that case retweet, because of it’s name, has the advantage.
They have barely even bothered to rewrite some of the text on the site.
TM: The button is really smart and will automatically grab the URL of the page it is placed on. However if you want to place the button on more than one page or would like it in your feed, you will need to override the URL.
RT: The button has a brain of its own and will automatically grab the URL of the page it is placed on without you having to change a thing. However if you want to place your button on more than one page or would like it in your feed, you will need to override the URL by following the directions below.
~~~~
TM: Just replace http://yoururl.com with the URL of the page you want to retweet. The URL must be the final destination URL, not an alias, such as a link using a shortening service (eg. http://tinyurl.com).
RT: Just replace http://www.exam...ample-blog-post with the URL of the page you want to retweet. The URL must be the final destination URL, not an alias, such as a link using a shortening service (eg. http://rt.nu).
Etc etc.
Hello,
The only thing I have to say i is that Retweet doesn’t apparently understand how the web works. In order to succeed on Internet, you need to have low profile and they don’t. What a shame…
Loic