Tooltip · Feature discovery
Twitter’s tooltip is contextual with good copy
Twitter points a small dark blue tooltip at the share button on a tweet, reminding you that you can share it with people who aren't on Twitter.
Screenshot added to the library in February 2023; its exact capture date wasn’t recorded, and the product may look different today. Write-up reviewed 22 Oct 2026.
Twitter (now X) used a small contextual tooltip to remind users of a sharing option. At the time of the screenshot, a dark blue tooltip appears under the action bar of an open tweet, pointing at the share icon. It repeats the icon and says "Share this Tweet with anyone, even if they aren't on Twitter yet", with a close button on the right.
Why it works
- Contextual: the tip appears while you're looking at a tweet and its share button, not in an all-in-one walkthrough you'd have forgotten by now.
- Non-intrusive: it's one line long, sits below the content instead of over it, and its dark blue blends with the dark theme while still standing apart from it.
- Friendly copy: "with anyone, even if they aren't on Twitter yet" answers the question people actually have about sharing, in a warm tone, and the repeated share icon ties the words to the button.
More on this pattern: contextual onboarding and tooltips in web design.
