Twitter’s revamped ‘Quote Tweet’ button recalls one of Weibo’s key features

Earlier today, Twitter announced that it would revamp and publicly launch a new “Quote Tweet” button. The feature essentially lets users embed other people’s tweets inside their own tweets, without cutting into one’s 140-character limit.

Say more with revamped quote Tweet! Rolling out on iPhone and web, coming soon to Android. https://t.co/Bcl3E859ne pic.twitter.com/fioAPPi0nW

— Twitter (@twitter) April 6, 2015

It’s not clear how users will receive this new feature. But if one wants to ponder how it might change Twitter, one can look to a social network from the other side of the world.

“Quote Tweet” isn’t just an alternative to a retweet on China’s Weibo – it’s the default form of a retweet (we’re going to use “tweet” in this piece to describe what’s actually a “post,” sorry China hands). Take for example this tweet from Xiaomi’s Mi Pad account, which is announcing an RMB 200 discount for its 64GB tablet:

Hours after the Xiaomi’s social media team sent out that tweet, Xiaomi CEO “retweeted” it with his own comments:

Weibo users can then retweet Lei’s tweet, while preserving the image of the original tweet. From my own Weibo account: