In the Twitter API Announcement Google Group today, developer Marcel Molina posted a couple interesting updates about the upcoming Retweet API.
First, the launch of the new API is “close at hand.” In fact, Molina notes that users may already be seeing the new style retweet/status messages from users who are currently testing out the feature.
Second, and more importantly, Twitter is making a pretty significant change to the API prior to launch. Previously, Twitter was requiring third party developers to check whether a tweet has already come in or not in any users’ stream to see if they should collapse it under the new retweet structure. Now, Twitter has built its own mechanism to check for those duplicate tweets into the API. This will ensure that only the first tweet is shown and the retweets go under it automatically.
Interestingly enough, Molina notes that this will only gather up to 100 retweets. With our TechCrunch account, we often see many more than that, so it will be interesting to see how it handles that. As I read it, it may just cut off the retweets beyond 100, and simply not show them, which seems fine. Oddly though, in the image below, you’ll notice a “100+” note on Sarah Silverman’s tweet. Perhaps it notes that many, but will not show them.
Molina apologized to developers if they had already been doing work using the old method with the Retweet API. You can find the API documentation here.
And Twitter has also shared a picture of how the functionality may look on Twitter.com. Obviously, things have changed since the initial announcement. Note the icons now under tweets, as well as the Retweet tab system. It’s important to note that this view is not the main Twitter stream, as you can see on the right hand side, this stuff resides in a new “Retweets” column. Molina notes that this is just one potential mock-up for how it will look on Twitter.com.
And Twitter starts to look more and more like FriendFeed.
It is very familiar
Unless they also introduce native threading, this is still killing the ability to add your own commentary as part of a RT, and in many cases a RT is the equivalent of “via” – acknowledging a source, and nothing to do with the words within the tweet.
This is still broken
Very exciting.
ahh..this looks ugly.
Not happy with this UI preview.
I personally would like to block certain people’s retweets because they have great original content but retweet things I could care less about.
But what about personal comments w/ RTs? Like “hey this rocks! || RT @somebody something something”
If there’s more than 100 retweets, a sensible API would offer paginations. Failing that, they should at least give you the count of retweets, but the mockup image (which MG linked to) says “100+ users”, so they oddly don’t even give you that.
There’s the potential for Digg-esque mashups, but only if the API provides you with the retweet tally!
good point on the image, i’ll note that.
this looks ugly… and expect more retweet spam
I think this is in effort to circumvent retweet spam actually. If they make it (retweeting) official, someone won’t be able to simply hijack an unofficial statement and falsely retweet it all around.
my point was not stealing someone’s statement … i meant expect to see half-naked girls in every retweet.
This is a feature or a bug?
Agreed with Jeff, this is more exposure for Twitter bots!
I wish retweets made by the people you follow would just appear in your stream with a little line under them that says “retweeted by whomever.”
This looks too crowded and ugly.
Interesting to see RT becoming formalized as part of the feature set in Twitter. I’m wondering if Twitter status updates will become even more viral now… or perhaps more spammy and less relevant?
Wow, that’s really exciting.
Do you have anything else to report other than Twitter feature updates? LOL!!
I think convergence will happen in the long run in the web 2.0 space. Too many social networking sites with almost similar features. Friendfeed with Facebook was the first step… Next, Yammer with Twitter; Myspace with Facebook – who knows?
does that mean you don’t like twitter ? or does that mean you don’t like techcrunch ? however it’s amazing you yet choose to comment on this post
no offense.
neither!! funny how they are obsessed with Twitter
yes they are… esp., O-MG
This software enhancement may be enough to bring people back to using Twitter.com in lieu of 3rd party apps. It’s interesting to think about how this change would have impacted the development of other tools like TweetDeck and Seesmic had it been integrated into Twitter 6-9 months ago. Also, how will phone apps like Tweetie and UberTwitter adapt? Don’t you just love the continuing journey & daily mystery?
I have a client called Twitterface and I am definitely not sure how to bring some of the stuff in. We’ll figure it out, but in the small-column reality of multi-account UI’s, cramming this info in is a challenge.
Why don’t they just copy Yahoo! Meme? Meme has been having nicely implemented retweeting calld “reposting” since launch.
I think this is just one way how you can show retweets not the only way – its up to the developers on how they want to show retweets on their apps..
i do agree their UI could be sharper.
btw is there any twitter app that helps you categorize your tweets/friends? i.e. if i want to only see my friends tweets or my family’s tweets?
Well, ironically as it is, if Twitter keeps chaning its API developers are often forced to upgrade their implementations. That’s sort of continuous improvement and everyone gets better eventually. But what a hazzle!
Reminds me of Facebook.
“… and 100 others”
b.s b.s. b.s b.s “twitter” b.s b.s b.s b.s “iphone” b.s b.s b.s when is this going to end?
Continuing to withholding judgment until I know whether I can add my own content to a retweet. Also, still hoping I’ll be able to see the retweet path (aka RT @emilyolson: RT @bpm140: RT @pink:).
Fingers crossed.
The UI is definitely lacking.
The avatars have no business being included inline. Remove the avatars and place them in an individual unique reTweet page, just as individual tweets have. A reTweet page can dominate with information about the growth from where it originates.
Either way, I am excited about the feature.
Talk about clutter…
The question is how will the ReTweets show up in public timeline? Will the retweeted tweet get to the top again as in friendfeed?
I wasn’t updating my Seesmic client because of few issues in newer versions, but now I will be forced to make use of the new API and this is really bad.
The sad thing is that retweets essentially serve the same purpose as a favorite. Typically you say nothing of value about the RT in the tweet. Favstar.fm does a great job of doing the exact same thing just without all the RT mess.
MG – Any update on the upcoming Twitter location API?
Tumblr did it first! Reblogging came before “Retweeting.” Viva la Tumblr!
Interesting. We’ll see if this is going to be a truly helpful addition or a shiny free-press fireworks explosion that is forgotten about 5 seconds after it happens…
Why only 100? I hope this change to the API happens without traditional bellowing whale…aka downtime..
When I RT something I am drawing attention to my ability to aggregate and, thereby, entertain those who follow. The OP gets proper recognition for the content.
If by writing “RT” I put the original poster front and center, I lose the incentive to write “RT”.
Am I missing something here?