Twitter is testing a feature to “promote informed discussion” by giving users a second chance to reconsider sharing an article they might not have read, the company said Wednesday.
Users of Twitter’s app for the Android operating system may see a notice upon trying to share, or retweet, content that has not been viewed within the app, the company explained.
“Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it,” Twitter said in a tweet announcing the new feature. “To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android –– when you Retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.”
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and chief executive, posted about the new feature from his account on the platform, tweeting: “Did you read the article you’re about to spread?”
Elon Musk, the billionaire head of both Tesla and SpaceX, was among the more popular Twitter users who subsequently expressed their support for the new feature.
“Great point,” Mr. Musk replied to Mr. Dorsey’s tweet. “Many articles are retweeted based on headlines that don’t match the content.”
Indeed, studies done previously about sharing content on social media have suggested that users are often inclined to amplify links to articles before or without ever reading them.
“People are more willing to share an article than read it,” Arnaud Legout, a research scientist at the French National Institute, also known as Inria, said in 2016 after conducting a study on the subject. “This is typical of modern information consumption. People form an opinion based on a summary, or summary of summaries, without making the effort to go deeper.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.