Bottom line: A determined user may very well ignore the prompts and share information en masse but if Twitter can convince at least some uninformed people to pause and reflect on what they are about to post, perhaps it could do some good.
Twitter is doing more to help promote informed discussion on its platform and it starts with select mobile users.
The social media platform recently announced it is trialing a new prompt for Android users. When retweeting an article that you haven’t yet opened on Twitter, you may receive a notification asking if you’d like to read the article before sharing it.
Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 10, 2020
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.
In follow-up tweets, the company said they want to see if reminding people to read an article before sharing it leads to more informed discussion.
To be clear, the feature will only check to see if you have recently opened the article through Twitter, not elsewhere. Users will still have the option to go ahead and retweet the link even if they haven’t read it through Twitter, the company said.
We wanted to test a way to improve the health of a conversation as it gets started. And to see if reminding people to read an article before they share it leads to more informed discussion.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 10, 2020
If nothing else, Twitter’s motive here is to at least slow down the spread of misinformation.
Of course, not everyone is onboard with Twitter's stance.
Who made you god and how do you know what I am doing in my other Browser tabs ? Also, why are you tracking what I read ?
— Paul Wouters (@letoams) June 10, 2020
No word yet on how long the experiment will last or why Twitter elected to single out Android users for the test.
Masthead credit: Sattalat phukkum
