Twitter may be designed around a real-time feed, but the social media platform is gaining a new tool to save those tweets for later. On Wednesday, February 28, Twitter launched bookmarks and a new share icon for easily saving and sharing tweets. So what is a Twitter bookmark, and how do you add one?
Found something historic?
Don’t want to forget a joke?
Article that you want to read later?Save the Tweet with Bookmarks, and come back to it whenever you want. Only you can see your Bookmarks. pic.twitter.com/fM2QLcOYNF
— Twitter (@Twitter) February 28, 2018
The new share icon has already begun rolling out to iOS and Android apps, along with Twitter Lite and the mobile Twitter website. Once the update arrives, each tweet will have a share icon at the bottom, which is the icon with the single arrow (the double arrows forming a circle is still for retweets). Bookmarks can be used in a number of different ways, Twitter says, including saving links to access later, videos to watch later or threads to stay up-to-date on the latest comments.
Tapping on the share icon will bring up a submenu of different options — including one for bookmarks. Clicking on the bookmark icon will save that tweet. Users can find their saved tweets from the profile icon menu under the bookmarks option.
Twitter said that no one else sees what you’ve bookmarked, so it doesn’t look like the owner of that original tweet will be notified that you’ve saved their 280-character-or-less insight for later. Bookmarks are only removed by the account owner and at any time — so you can save that tweet for tomorrow, next week, next month or whenever you get around to it.
Along with the bookmark option, the share menu also has shortcuts for sending the Tweet inside a Direct Message or adding to Moment. Another “Share Tweet Via” option allows the tweet to be shared with a number of other compatible apps, including shares inside text messages and emails.
Twitter said the change both makes sharing tweets easier and faster and opens up the option of saving tweets for later. The platform began testing an option to save tweets in October. Since then, Twitter says it used user feedback and reactions to fine-tune the tool — including options to save a reply rather than the original tweet. In testing, Twitter says some users shared their saved tweets hours or even days after first spotting the post.
