What is a Retweet on Twitter?

by | Marketing on Social Media

ReTweet
ReTweet

ReTweet

 

A retweet or an RT on Twitter is one of the most important features that Twitter has to offer.  Retweets allow you to share great links, tweets, pictures, and more with the rest of the folks in your network.  However it is a bit difficult for newcomers to master this function, so now we are going to take a look at retweets and some great tools that simply the whole process.

Examples of Retweets

RainnWilson

 

 

rainnwilson RainnWilson
RT @jon_fitzgerald: Debuting”Not Your Mother’s Morals” my column on @soulpancake. Can Pop Culture Make Us Better People?bit.ly/le1143

 

 

Just like our friend Rainn Wilson from The Office did above, we can retweet or favorite comments from our friends by simply adding RT to the beginning of our tweet.  Following that we need to add @thepersonsname, this allows the user to know that you included him or her in tweet, it also gives other users a link that person’s account.  Finally, you would need to include the original tweet in your retweet.  It’s that simple.  Take a look at this retweet below:

  • The user @BlackBoxSocialMedia tweets: We can help you master social networking!
  • You retweet by posting RT @BlackBoxSocialMedia We can help you master social networking!

Tracking Retweets

So you’ve got the retweet feature down pat for your own personal Twitter page, however its also very useful to view and read what others are retweeting about.  This is useful for those that want to see whats trending and what blog posts people are reading on a larger scale.

Benn Parr shared some great tools in a Mashable.com article that can make retweet tracking very convenient.

  • Retweetradar: Retweetradar [@retweetradar] is a web tool for tracking the most retweeted and trending content on Twitter. It provides a tag cloud to see the most popular content from today, yesterday, and even what’s popular right now.
  • Retweetist: Retweetist [@retweetist] is a tool that tracks the most popular links being retweeted on Twitter, just like Tweetmeme. Retweetist doesn’t stop there, however – it also lists the most retweeted accounts on Twitter.
  • Tweetmeme: Tweetmeme [@tweetmeme] is an authority when it comes to retweeted URLs and stories. Tweetmeme tracks the most popular links on Twitter. Once a link receives enough retweets, it appears on the front page of Tweetmeme. Tweetmeme can also be broken down by categories (i.e. sports, entertainment, technology).

Retweet Tracking on a Mobile Phone

Since Twitter posts are about as short as an average text message, reading and posting tweets and retweets are very convienenetly done from your mobile phone.

Here are some other tools for your mobile phone that Ben Parr shared:

  • Retweet iPhone App [iTunes link]: The Retweet iPhone app, which we recently reviewed, is a great app for tracking the most popular retweeted URLs on Twitter. It costs $0.99.
  • Tweetmeme Mobile: If you’re not an iPhone owner, you’re in luck – Tweetmeme has a mobile version at m.tweetmeme.com. Bookmark it so you can see the most popular retweets from anywhere!
  • TweetieTweetie reviewsTweetie reviews [iTunes Link]: The most popular Twitter iPhone App includes a section for viewing top Twitter trends and searching for retweets.

Get Started with your Retweet tools

Everything is set for you to begin retweeting.  Download your apps and tools and also check out Tweetdeck for your retweet needs.