Twitter users blessed with the new Retweet functionality, as explained in our visual guide, will be logging in to find that the new beta feature is no longer available. The removal of the new feature comes only days after it was introduced, with Twitter putting the removal of the feature down to numerous bug errors.

A transcript from a developer IRC channel was posted over at TheNextWeb, showing that Twitter developers were still trying hard to mend the bug problem, without giving much away.

However, it’s not all bad news, as the Twitter team promised Wednesday that the feature will be back once all bugs are fixed, but this time to all users.

Twitter’s Status Blog said:

We’re working on a few problems related to the ongoing rollout. These should be resolved quickly and it will be back on for those who had the Retweet feature previously. And we’ll then continue the incremental rollout of this feature to everyone.

The new remake of the Retweet function made way for considerable changes on the website. It allowed users to keep track of how many people had retweeted their status update (and who), as well as saving precious characters. A new tab in the sidebar could show a user three tabs for different kinds of retweets (by the user, by others and the user’s tweets, retweeted). The only downside was the function working only on the Twitter website, not third-party clients.

Be sure to let us know what you think of the new Retweet function (if you were lucky enough to have the beta) in the comments below.

As Twitter Bulletin reported Friday, Twitter has begun selecting people to test the new retweet functionality. The new add-on to the site now allows users to retweet with even more ease. This update has been implemented through a number of intricate changes, such as being able to see how many people have retweeted a certain tweet at-a-glance.

Below is a step-by-step visual guide on how to tell if you have been chosen the beta, and what to do once you are:

1. Upon logging into Twitter, there should be a box signaling your inclusion in the Retweet beta, like this:

If this does not appear and the homepage loads as usual your account has not been chosen for the beta, yet.

2. Once the above has been established, it’s time to get retweeting! First up, look out for statuses with this icon:
What this icon represents is that an update has been successfully retweeted, thus removing the need to write ‘RT @’ at the beginning of an update.

3. To retweet another users message, simply hover over the desired tweet. A link at the bottom right will appear showing the new retweet option. Upon clicking the link, a hover box will appear to confirm if this is the tweet that you wish to be retweeted. The retweeted update will then appear in your timeline for others to share. If other people have chosen to retweet the update, it will then state that you retweeted it originally, and how many others have too.

5. There is now a ‘Retweets’ link in your sidebar. Once clicked, a page appears with three tabs- Retweets by Others, Retweets by You and Tweets by you, Retweeted.

Retweets by Others shows a timeline of the people you are following’s retweets, while Retweets by You show your own, and Tweets by You, Retweeted is a record of what people have retweeted, originally written by you.

6. Another new feature is selecting who to view retweets from. Next to the SMS option on the individual’s Twitter, there is now a small button, which allows you to switch off that individual’s retweets if they are uninteresting etc to you. You will still see their other updates though.

At first, the new changes to the way updates can be retweeted may seem small but actually in practice make a lot of difference. For instance, not needing to type out ‘RT @’ saves precious characters. The changes also enable users to judge much more effectively how far word is being spread about a certain topic they have tweeted.

Currently, the new retweet function will not display correctly (if at all) in third party Twitter client timelines.

Be sure to tell us what you think about the changes in the comments.

Twitter has just confirmed that the rollout of their retweet project has now officially began.

The company have confirmed that the new retweet functionality, which integrates the retweeting experience directly into users Twitter.com account, has now been activated on a select number of accounts.

For those unfamiliar with the retweet project it all started earlier this year, when Twitter announced that it would begin to officially support the popular ‘retweet’ action used on their site. A retweet is when one user republishes another users tweet in order to spread the word or message. Currently this republishing is done simply by copying and pasting the other users message, and accrediting them by displaying ‘RT @username’ as a precursor to the copied message. This action has been favorably adopted by third-parties and now makes up a large part of what Twitter is about, with it now being present in a number of applications, programs and websites.

Unfortunately we are yet to have the new functionality on our accounts, but if you are using the new retweet features be sure to let us know!

[Via TheNextWeb]