Twitter has listened to its users and created a useful way to quote other tweets. Hooray!

What is a quote tweet, you ask? It’s the ugly stepsister of the retweet. A quote tweet is when you retweet a tweet, but would like to add your own comment to it.

Before this latest change, quoting a tweet and trying to add your own insight was painful. You had to copy and paste the tweet into a new tweet, add your own thoughts, and somehow keep everything under 140 characters. The older quote tweet also didn’t allow images to be copied over … oy!

The image below highlights a previous attempt I made using the older process. Note the particularly maligned MT, or “modified tweet” reference signifying that I had to shorten the original tweet in order to add my own comment.

Luckily for us Twitter nerds, in April, Twitter announced a revamped quote tweet feature in the only way it knows how — a tweet (including an adorable GIF for good measure).

The new quote tweet feature copies over photos and other media from the quoted tweet, AND gives you space for a full new tweet (140 characters). In essence, you now have 280 characters of pure Twitter joy at your disposal, instead of 140.

Mmmkay, but how can you use the quote tweet to talk to and reach other Twitter users?

• Make Twitter chats a breeze. With quoted tweets, users no longer need to signify the usual Q1/ A1 in Twitter chats, because they can simply quote a question tweet with their response. This leaves less clutter in the tweet and more room for chatting.
• Use all 140 characters! One “best practice” brands used to use on Twitter was to keep tweets much shorter than 140 characters to allow others to quote them. Now that users can quote tweets AND add a whopping 140 characters of their own musings, brands no longer have to worry about condensing tweets. That being said, we know that shorter content is generally best when it comes to social media, but now you will have the ability to add in a few more key words to help convey your message.
• Connect more with your followers. The quote tweet feature makes it easier for you to engage with your followers. Instead of only having room to say “ty!” or “thank you!” when quoting a tweet from a follower, you can now add your organization’s perspective and messaging.
• Don’t overuse the quote tweet. With great power comes great responsibility! Avoid creating long tweets that would require you to quote yourself in order to convey the full message. This will come across like spam.

Does the quote tweet feature make you do the happy dance, too? Then go to town and quote tweet us over on Twitter!