Repost (formerly retweet)

Overview

A repost is a feature for re-sharing another user's post on your own timeline. On X, it's called a "repost" (formerly a "retweet"). There are two kinds: a simple repost, which shares the original post as is, and a quote repost (formerly a quote retweet), which shares it with your own comment added.

What reposts do for a question box

When a Q&A from a question box gets reposted, it reaches users beyond the owner's followers. If a follower of the person who reposted it sees the Q&A and thinks, "This person is interesting," they may follow the owner's account and even send questions. Reposts are a natural route for spreading the word about a question box.

Q&As that tend to get reposted have things in common: answers people relate to, surprising answers, funny answers, and useful answers. Q&As that are worth sharing, the kind that make people think "I want my followers to see this too," are the ones that get reposted.

The pros and cons of quote reposts

A quote repost is a feature for sharing the original post with a comment added. Positive quotes ("This answer is the best," "So true") make the owner happy, but negative quotes ("This answer is weird," "What are they even saying") can spark backlash.

If your question box answer is criticized in a quote repost, think carefully about whether to argue back. Arguing back can widen the debate and sometimes put it in front of even more people. If the criticism has a fair point, simply correcting yourself leaves a better impression.

Ways to encourage reposts

The basic way to get more reposts of your Q&As is to aim for answers people want to share. Another way is to post your Q&A as a card-style image.

If you use the share link with an OGP (Open Graph Protocol) image that the question box service provides, a Q&A card with a consistent design is generated automatically. Unlike a screenshot, it can also bring people to the linked page.