Twitter is running a test in which it gives ‘quotes with response’ its own counter under a tweet. This separates it more clearly from ‘regular’ quotes, which are also called retweets.
The counters under a tweet are now retweets, likes, and quotes. It is striking that there is also a counter for the number of replies, but this is only visible on Twitter’s timelines and not when a user navigates to the permalink of a tweet. Then he will have to count the reactions himself. Conversely, the counter for quotes is not visible on timelines and again on the permalink page. Twitter tells The Verge that it is a test.
Twitter brought the counter for quotes a few months ago below as part of retweets, but makes the quotes more visible. The difference between a comment and a quote is that a quote is basically more visible to others.
Twitter has been a popular medium for some time, but has not been profitable for very long. 2018 was only its first year of profitability. The platform has been working on its formula in small ways for some time. It is also considering paid subscriptions, but with a ‘very high bar’ for when it asks for money for a function.
On the left a tweet in a timeline, with a response counter, on the right a tweet behind the permalink, with a quote counter