The New Self-retweeting features of twitter will make a difference and there is more to come

Update aims to make it easier to use service

Twitter has rolled out a feature that lets you retweet your own tweets in the first of several small but notable changes being made to the site, as the firm outlined last month.

"We’ll be enabling the retweet button on your own tweets so you can easily retweet or quote tweet yourself when you want to share a new reflection or feel like a really good one went unnoticed," Twitter said at the time.

The functionality is now live, although you can retweet yourself only once, so if your tweet doesn't get the attention on the second time round, it's time to give up. 

The update also makes it easier to quote tweet yourself, or essentially retweet yourself with another tweet embedded in it. What a time to be alive. 

I can now retweet myself AND delete the fricken stocks app #blessed — Laura Christian (@laurahinderaker) June 15, 2016 

oh wow you can retweet yourself now!
*scrolls back through old tweets*
ewww
not this one
no
what was i thinking
eughhh
oh god i am the worst — Innes MᶜKendrick (@innesmck) June 14, 2016

The social network has also updated the block feature that stops blocked users from seeing a person’s tweets, and vice versa, which will be succor to those not too pleased about the self-retweet feature.

Previously, if a third person retweeted either user, the other person would be able to see it, but the updated block feature closes that loophole.

There are more new features coming. Twitter will soon push out changes to the 140-character limit, excluding photos, videos, hashtags and Vines from counting towards the limit. Links, however, will still count.

The company will also tweak the replies function by getting rid of the .@ convention currently used to broadcast replies publicly.

The changes are minimal in their impact, but they underline Twitter's efforts to make the platform more functional and easier to understand in a tricky balancing act between retaining core users and enticing new ones.

These are the first major changes instigated by new CEO Jack Dorsey as he sets about tackling sluggish growth and revenue.

Dorsey has already made some bold moves since taking over, including cutting 336 jobs. The firm has struggled to grow in recent years while watching rival Facebook storm ahead chiefly by raking in mobile advertising revenue.