If you've been on Twitter since the beginning, you know that @replies weren't always supported the way they are now. The @username convention started from the ground up, with Twitter's users, and the functionality was coded afterward. Now, the same thing is happening with retweets, according to a blog post by Twitter's Biz Stone.

Although the design hasn't been finalized, "Project Retweet" looks like it will include a "retweet" link next to each tweet. Instead of the conventional "RT:" in front of retweeted posts, they'll appear to your followers as they were written, with a "retweeted by" note at the end, next to the date and time of the tweet. At first, people will probably wonder why they're seeing posts by folks they don't follow, but I'm sure users will eventually learn to assume they're seeing retweets. Besides, "RT" was taking up valuable characters!

Project Retweet rolls out in "a few weeks or so," according to Biz. This way, app developers have time to support the functionality. Retweeting has been added to the API, so adding it to apps should only be a small hassle. I'm predicting iPhone apps will lag behind desktop apps in adding the new retweet feature, though, while their updates wait in Apple's App Store approval queue.