Facebook Retweet Feature Vs Twitter Retweet Feature

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Recently Facebook released the retweet functionality, though here we can call it the ‘via’ feature.

Facebook Retweet

The source person is shown as via so – so.

This works if you share a post by a fan page, too. All in all its pretty good, adding to the viral nature of Facebook.

On the other hand….

Twitter Retweet

The Twitter auto retweet sends the tweet with the source intact, and it shows how many people have retweeted it.

Difference between Facebook via feature and Twitter retweet feature

The one big difference I found between the two retweet functionalities is that, the Parent source is not maintained for viral retweeting in Facebook.

If I retweet someones update on Facebook and my friend retweets that same update from my wall then I will appear as the source on my friends retweet. The original source is not maintained.

For eg:

While in Twitter, the auto RT will always show the original source and the number of retweets below the tweet.

IMO facebook should also start showing the original source so that credit goes to person who discover the latest trend. What’s your opinion regarding Facebook should enhance its via feature?

This is a guest post by Priyanka who writes at Priyankawriting. If you like to write for Shoutmeloud, do read Shoutmeloud revenue sharing program.

Tagged as: Facebook, guest author, guest post, retweet, source, Twitter, viral

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 wiredcubes.com January 25, 2010 at 23:45: Yes credit should go to the parent of the source. He does all the hard work of discovering new stuff.

2 sudharsan @ technoskillonline January 25, 2010 at 23:57: Thanks priyanka for sharing this information
A funny facebook retweet features
Just imagine if i retweeted Billgates tweet and someone tweeted my updates then i became the source of the tweet… am i correct..??

3 Extreme John January 26, 2010 at 09:15: I haven’t used the Facebook retweet feature yet, I use the Twitter retweet constantly because of Twitter clients like Seesmic and Hoot Suite (which I started using thanks to you btw.).

4 Chethan January 26, 2010 at 09:22: Good Post!
Twitter Rocks when it comes to Retweet!

5 Rahul Hanchinamane January 26, 2010 at 17:07: Am pretty sure they can change the “source” to point out the origin with a simple tweak.

6 Jaspal January 27, 2010 at 16:57: i think its time to use .. Facebook’s Reshare button .. nice writeup btw