Twitter social experiment retweets your favorite links

[Transcendence]

Twitter is concerned with getting new users involved in the social media activity that is common to veteran users. However, you may want to be careful as to what you “favorite†at the social media site from now on.

According to a new report, Twitter is trying out a new experiment to get new “birdies†to become growing users on the social media site by using favored items of the people they follow as “retweets†on their own walls. This means that, personal or private items you favor will reappear so that all your followers (or friends and relatives) can see them.

 

Some users are outraged at this, and see it as nothing more than the company’s way of exposing what its users are up to. At the same time, however, Twitter says that its new experiment is designed to help new users who may be overwhelmed by the nature of the site. If new users come to see old posts, Twitter believes, it may encourage them to share what they’ve seen, or provide some “favorites†that Twitter can then use to help these new users gain followers of their own. In other words, sharing begets sharing – or so the thought goes.

 

For some individuals, however, the new Twitter is nothing short of invasive and embarrassing, after all, some things shouldn’t be retweeted, users have said. If someone “favorites†something that could be seen as embarrassing or unwanted on their own wall, and Twitter shares it with their followers, then they may have to give an explanation for a dirty joke or statement that was meant to be shared between them and a friend.

 

Twitter looks to do this, whether or not its users agree. While it may seem like a bad move to Twitter users, however, the company’s concerned with the bottom line: it wants users to share, like, and engage in social activity on its site – and it’s prepared to get the ball rolling in order to see it happen. In some opinions, it isn’t any worse than OK Cupid’s and Facebook’s recent unsuspecting experiments on their users.