Comparing Twitter Retweet Data Services

I used to rely heavily on a tool called BackTweets and for a long time it was my favorite way to track retweets and mentions. Before that, I used TweetMeme, which helped popularize the idea of retweet buttons and viral link tracking. Over time, I explored Topsy and a few others too. Most of those services are now gone, but I wanted to preserve this post as a snapshot of how we used to handle tweet tracking and also bring it up to date with a few modern alternatives that serve a similar purpose today.

BackTweets (via BackType)

BackType was a powerful search engine for conversations about your content, not just on your site. They launched BackTweets as a way to track all mentions of your links across Twitter, even if someone used a URL shortener. The interface was clean, fast and reliable. The TweetCount widget was fully customizable and automatically appended UTM tags using Awe.sm, which was a big deal at the time.

BackType was eventually acquired by Twitter and BackTweets was shut down. But for a while, it was one of the best tools out there.

TweetMeme

TweetMeme was one of the first big players in this space, combining a Digg-style aggregator with one of the earliest and most widely adopted “Retweet” buttons. While its customization options were more limited compared to BackTweets, it gained a ton of traction thanks to its visibility and simplicity. They also rolled out their own viral analytics to map how tweets spread, though I always preferred to integrate directly with Google Analytics when possible.

TweetMeme eventually shut down, but it paved the way for today’s retweet and share functionality.

Topsy

Topsy took a slightly different approach, ranking shared links based on the influence of the people sharing them. You could see which shortened URLs were used, who shared them and how they tagged the content. One nice surprise: links to your blog sometimes showed up as WordPress trackbacks, which is how I first discovered the service.

Topsy was acquired by Apple and later discontinued, but its influence on search-based link tracking is still felt in other tools today.

Modern Alternatives (2025)

Most of the old-school tools have shut down or been acquired and the Twitter/X API landscape has changed a lot. But there are still great tools out there if you’re looking to track retweets, engagement or social sharing:

• X Analytics (formerly Twitter Analytics) – Good for basic stats on your own posts. Includes retweets, likes, impressions and engagement rates.
• Tweet Hunter – Offers tweet-level analytics, growth tracking and scheduling. Built for creators and power users.
• Hypefury – Similar to Tweet Hunter, with advanced engagement metrics and automation for high-retweet content.
• Black Magic – Tracks retweets, follower activity and timing trends. Great if you want to understand who is amplifying your tweets.
• Typefully – A modern editor for writing and scheduling tweets/threads. Offers engagement analytics and performance breakdowns.
• Sparktoro / Followerwonk – Not for retweets directly, but useful for understanding audience behavior and influence, key for optimizing reach.

Many of these tools offer free tiers, though deep link-based tracking (like BackTweets used to do) isn’t really feasible anymore due to tighter API restrictions on X.

It’s wild how much has changed, but the need to track what’s resonating on social hasn’t gone away. The tools look different now, but the goal is still the same: understand what’s being shared, by whom and why it’s spreading.