Twitter will soon prompt users to read an article before retweeting.

“We shouldn't have to say this, but you should read an article before you tweet it. So, we’ve been prompting some people to do exactly that,” Twitter wrote from the Twitter Comms account on Thursday.

The microblogging platform had begun testing a feature on Android that prompted users to read an article that they hadn’t opened on Twitter before retweeting it.

“Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you tweet it. To help promote informed discussion, we're testing a new prompt on Android –– when you retweet an article that you haven't opened on Twitter, we may ask if you'd like to open it first,” Twitter said.

According to the social media major, during the testing phase, people open articles 40 per cent more often after seeing the prompt. The number of people opening articles before retweeting also increased by 33 per cent, Twitter said.

“Some people didn’t end up RTing after opening the article – which is fine! Some tweets are best left in drafts,” it added.

Twitter will make the prompt smaller once people have seen it once moving forward. It will now begin to roll out the feature globally.

“Working on bringing these prompts to everyone globally soon,” Twitter said.

comment COMMENT NOW