From 6th May 2019, Twitter now lets users add videos, images and GIFs to quoted tweets and retweets. The new feature is now available on Twitter apps across all operating systems and devices. It is, however, not yet available on the desktop version.
Users can now add media to a retweet by tapping the “Retweet with comment” option and then choose the GIF or image icon.
The minor addition is a very welcome one. Twitter said, even though it seems like such a tiny adjustment, it took a lot of work. The company admitted that it was quite difficult to make the design without it overwhelming the timeline.
Dear @Twitter,
Waiting for the day we can retweet with GIF comments.
— T A N I Y A ♡ (@KaleshQueen) January 14, 2019
The wait is over 👇😘 https://t.co/3W0witaZtg pic.twitter.com/v7J6WgRioD
— Twitter (@Twitter) May 6, 2019
Wow! #BlackTwitter is about to cut up on here now! I’m ready! https://t.co/oxOrA7v4nk pic.twitter.com/aiKSZxuDMF
— Kalen Allen (@TheKalenAllen) May 6, 2019
A spokesperson from the social networking site said,
“We found it was challenging for people to quickly understand all the content in a retweet with media. This was due to the layout; two large tweets stacked on top of each other.”
In order for the new feature to make sense, Twitter puts the original tweet in a smaller box with the user’s avatar still visible. It then makes the retweeted media full width.
Big brands already seized the opportunity of the new update and started exploring the functionality from the day Twitter released the update for retweets. However, if you are trying to view the update via the web on a desktop browser, it doesn’t look so great. Twitter will hopefully fix it soon for web browser access.
Valar Dohaeris. https://t.co/gbGdoHekBo pic.twitter.com/wop7OqLeAK
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) May 6, 2019