Twitter Introduces a Tweet Button for Web Sites

(A video from Twitter explaining the tweet button.)

Twitter on Thursday unveiled a new feature called a tweet button, one that it hopes will be sprinkled all over the Web, encouraging people to share links through Twitter.

The goal of the new feature is to eliminate the many steps that it takes to share a link on Twitter. Currently users go through the laborious task of copying a URL, using a link-shortening service and then pasting the shortened link into the Twitter Web site or a Twitter client before sharing.

With the new feature, Web developers can add a few lines of code to their Web sites, and a small tweet icon will appear below each article that can be used to share and add commentary. When Twitter users click the tweet button they will see a pre-populated pop-up for ease of sharing.

The move by Twitter signals that the company is trying to take control of more assets within its network. In the past the company relied more on third-party products and services, but more recently, through acquisitions or things built in-house, Twitter is starting to take control of tools, services and products that surround its service.

Earlier this year Twitter introduced its own mobile clients for the iPhone and Android platform, and the company has also implemented its own URL shortening.

Twitter is also using this tool to help promote other users on its service. After people use the new tweet button and share the link, they will be shown one or two of the people associated with the Web site or recently shared article.

The video above shows an example of the new button being used to share a link to a blog.


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