Some Twitter users have complained of pop-up notifications nudging them to “Share Tweet Instead” of taking screenshots. A few different versions of the prompt they reported were the following;
1. “Share Tweet instead?”
2. “Copy link”
3. “Share Tweet” and
3. “Share Tweet” buttons
Social Media Consultant, Matt Navarra, who confirmed this in a tweet, shared the image below, and also noted that “Twitter… wants active users on platform viewing tweets INSTEAD of via screenshots on rival platforms.”
More screenshots that supports were published in a report by TechCrunch. “Users are seeing different kinds of popups when they take a screenshot. Some folks are seeing a “Copy Link” button, some are seeing a “Share Tweet” button, and some are seeing a dialog containing both,” said the reporter.
Twitter, therefore, knows when you or any user attempts to screenshot tweets to share somewhere else, and would prefer if he or she can give credit to the author of the tweet instead.
Famous App researcher, Jane Manchun Wong who also shared her experience in a tweet said, “Twitter is trying to persuade me to Share Tweet or Copy Link instead of taking a screenshot of the Tweet.
I tried to screenshot a tweet with my Samsung A03s but didn’t get a pop-up or notification. Some have said this could be that the company is testing a small update to try to get people to use the platform more often.
Twitter hasn’t said anything yet. But could also be tied to an experiment the company started in few months that allowed some users to use the platform without creating an account?
When people are consuming tweets through screenshots they are not interacting with any element of the site. So it’s most likely that they are not “monetizable” users as the social network can’t show them ads or ask them to sign up for the service.
Screenshots of tweets still got to other platforms, and corners of the internet that aren’t Twitters, like on Instagram stories, many TikTok videos, some group chats on WhatsApp and other private messages. Images of tweets doing numbers off of Twitter is engagement the platform is losing out on.
Images of tweets doing well off of Twitter are examples of engagement that the platform is losing. And going to Twitter after seeing a screenshotted tweet somewhere else requires more steps than simply clicking a direct link.
