Do Retweets Matter?

Do retweets matter?

As a metric, probably not as much as most people think. A retweet is a signal, not an outcome. It tells you that someone thought something was worth passing on, but it tells you nothing about whether they read it, understood it, acted on it, or were changed by it.

I’ve had posts that received hundreds of retweets and generated almost no meaningful conversation. And I’ve had posts that received almost no retweets and generated rich, extended discussions that changed how people think and act.

The difference is almost always depth versus surface. Retweet-worthy content tends to be pithy, provocative, or shareable. Comment-worthy content tends to be deeper, more personal, more honest.

I’d rather have ten people who genuinely engage with something I write than a thousand who pass it on without reading it.

Retweets are a broadcast metric. Comments are a relationship metric. Know which one you’re actually optimising for.