Twitter is testing a new way to share tweets in India, by adding a WhatsApp button under the posts for Android users. People will be able to share tweets with their contacts and groups on WhatsApp by tapping on the new button and selecting the WhatsApp option again — which is cumbersome and confusing.
The WhatsApp share button will replace the regular share button under the tweet, which opens different options like bookmarking, sending via Direct Message, copy link to Tweet and sharing to other social media platforms. The WhatsApp icon is just replacing the share icon without changing the functionality, making it an incoherent implementation.
Given WhatsApp’s popularity in India, this is not surprising. The chat app has more than 400 million users in the country, and it is one of the most used apps to share content with friends and family in the country. So Twitter is trying to tap into the mass appeal of the Meta-owned messaging app and direct more users toward its platform.
“Starting today, we are rolling out a new experiment exclusively in India – an important market for us. We are replacing the share icon on Tweets with the WhatsApp icon for the majority of people who use Twitter on Android in the country, so sharing their favorite or noteworthy Tweets is easy even beyond Twitter, making the experience more open, accessible, and holistic for them,” Shirish Andhare, director and product head, Twitter India said.
Twitter’s not the first social network to experiment with the “share to WhatsApp” button in India. Local language social network ShareChat, backed by the likes of Twitter and Google, has a similar button next to all their posts, with a counter for the number of shares.
While usually Twitter limits its tests to a select set of users, this new test will be available to the majority of Twitter for Android users in India. But given it’s an experiment, the company could scrap this new sharing feature altogether.