As well as Twitter asking "What's happening?" rather than "What are you doing?" it has recently introduced a retweet function. In addition to the low-tech old-school retweets, which are still supported, it offers links under each post with an automatic retweet option.
When selected it asks you simply "Retweet to your followers?" and when you confim, the tweet is reposted. A "Retweets" link in the right column lets users see statistics including the most frequent retweets on Twitter or retweets of their posts.
But the new system is not without hitches. The biggest one is that the retweeted messages now appear under the original Twitterer's name and picture, so your followers might have difficulties recognising who the sender is and wonder who these strange tweeters are in their twitter stream. Secondly, you can't add your own comment anymore, so on the website mini-editorialisation is over for now.
The reaction on the net have largely been critical.
Lisa Barone, of internet marketing company Outspoken Media, thinks the new function puts a stranger in her bed.
Blogger Malcolm Coles fears that Twitter campaigns such as the Trafigura affair or the furore about the Jan Moir piece might be consigned to history.
Another blogger, Adam Meyers, considers the implications for marketing on Twitter and points out that the changes make tweeters with lots of followers even more visible.
What do you think of the new feature on Twitter? Do you think we will get used to it?
