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Twitter's 'read before sharing' test is spreading to iOS

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By Joshua Swingle

Published: Oct 02, 2020, 11:31 AM

iOS Apps

Twitter's 'read before sharing' test is spreading to iOS

To slow the spread of misinformation and encourage people to read articles before Tweeting them, Twitter tested out a 'read before sharing' prompt with select Android users over the summer. It has now started rolling that test out to iOS users (via Engadget).

Do you really want to retweet that?

Following 'encouraging' results from the testing, Twitter recently announced plans to expand its new prompt to some iOS users. Those that are part of the testing will be asked if they'd "like to open it first" when attempting to retweet or quote a Tweet without opening the included link.

Twitter says the feature has led to a noticeable increase in the number of people reading articles. More specifically, Android users opened an impressive 40% more articles when seeing the prompt.

Ok, we expanded a test to some people on iOS today. If we prompt you will you read an article before you just RT? Doesn't matter what the content is, or who published. If it seems like you didn't click on the link, and you're in the test, we'll ask you if you want to read it 1st. https://t.co/qjJs6stWO3
— Brandon (@bborrman) October 2, 2020

Similarly, the rate of people reading linked content before retweeting it went up by 33% during testing. In some cases, as Twitter was keen to point out, people chose not to retweet or quote after reading the article.

The prompt itself will appear regardless of the publisher, meaning Twitter isn’t specifically targeting known sources of misinformation or fake news, but rather all content.

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