Enlarge / Please don't instrumentality photos of tweets connected this phone. Instead, see that tweets are much invaluable erstwhile you prosecute with them arsenic URLs.

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Twitter is seemingly moving to punctual radical that absorbing tweets are thing you should click, load, and presumption portion logged into the company's ad-funded service, not simply spot successful a screenshot. That's wherefore immoderate users are seeing a "Share Tweet?" pop-up whenever the Twitter app notices them taking a screenshot.

Social media expert Matt Navarra noted the 2 kinds of nudge prompts successful a tweet: "Copy link" and "Share Tweet." TechCrunch noted that immoderate of its unit members were receiving the punctual and pointed to another tweet successful which Twitter provided some "Copy link" and "Share Tweet" buttons.

As I was penning this, I checked my ain Twitter app, took a screenshot of a tweet, and received the "Copy link" version. There's no "dismiss" option, but the pop-up tucks itself distant aft astir 7 seconds.

Twitter wants to punctual you that this representation you captured besides exists arsenic a notation connected its servers.

Other Ars unit has seen the "Share Tweet" and double-stacked versions of this prompt.

Twitter makes wealth erstwhile radical sojourn the tract successful a browser oregon load it successful Twitter's authoritative apps, past spot sponsored tweets oregon pre-roll advertisements connected autochthonal videos (users tin besides motion up for a Twitter Blue subscription). Screenshots, whether shared straight oregon connected competing societal platforms, don't make revenue. Engaging with Twitter itself could promote radical to motion up and bash much of that.

Twitter reported 237.8 cardinal "average monetizable regular progressive usage" successful Q2 2022, up 16.6 percent compared to the aforesaid 4th successful 2021. The institution claims this summation was driven by "ongoing merchandise improvements" and "global speech astir existent events." It makes consciousness wherefore Twitter, the firm entity, prefers tweet links to screenshots, capable truthful to A/B/C trial a punctual that tin marque users consciousness similar the Twitter app is some intimately watching and scolding them.

But for Twitter, the taste entity, screenshots are enormously valuable, apt much truthful than links alone. If you've been engaging successful Internet civilization for years, you've seen why.

Former President Donald Trump utilized Twitter arsenic a superior means of making news, announcing policies, and, connected occasion, leaving himself unfastened to legislative and judicial action. After the January 6 insurrection, Trump (or his societal team) deleted 3 tweets that led to his suspension from Twitter successful the mediate of the night. After Trump's Twitter relationship was banned "due to the hazard of further incitement of violence," each of Trump's tweets were fundamentally deleted. Archives exist, but links to everything the Twitter-minded president had to accidental connected the platform, and embedded versions of those tweets, nary longer function.

Screenshots besides supply discourse that a nexus cannot capture. Tweets with notable like, retweet, quote-tweet, oregon reply enactment and numbers tin beryllium captured successful the infinitesimal with a screenshot, arsenic seen successful tweets that person been "ratioed" oregon successful seemingly banal statements that propulsion in incredible numbers. A reply to a tweet whitethorn supply important context, thing you can't beryllium definite volition amusement up if you nexus the reply tweet oregon if different tweet successful the thread is altered oregon deleted.

And portion Twitter's edit button currently shows the revision past of an edited tweet, it tin beryllium important to spot an archetypal tweet, with its replies astatine the time, to seizure its interaction and context.

All of this points to the larger issue: Twitter whitethorn not beryllium astir forever. And Internet services with idiosyncratic contented that tin beryllium embedded connected websites person a past of disappearing and exporting their brokenness onto the pages that touched them.

This improvement is known arsenic link rot. If you've seen a quality communicative that uses since-deleted tweets arsenic a important constituent of impervious oregon discussion, you've seen nexus rot. Before Twitter hosted its ain images, galore users relied connected third-party services to big them. Twitpic closed down but was bought by Twitter and had its archives restored. Yfrog besides didn't marque it, and its genitor company, ImageShack, utilized the embedded representation abstraction successful tweets and different sites to insert unrelated advertisements. Another service, Vidme, yet foisted "5 Star HD Porn" connected sites that relied connected its embedded media, including The Washington Post.

When Twitter asks users to trust connected their servers alternatively of uncovering a location for an representation file, the work is suggesting its servers and concern are much important than the discourse you mightiness beryllium trying to capture. For immoderate tweets, that whitethorn beryllium an casual trade-off, and it mightiness conscionable constituent to thing users didn't announcement before. But Twitter should support successful caput that determination are precise good, adjacent historical, reasons to disregard buy-in and drawback what you see.