  Social media platforms provide several social interactional features. Due to
the large scale reach of social media, these interactional features help enable
various types of political discourse. Constructive and diversified discourse is
important for sustaining healthy communities and reducing the impact of echo
chambers. In this paper, we empirically examine the role of a newly introduced
Twitter feature, 'quote retweets' (or 'quote RTs') in political discourse,
specifically whether it has led to improved, civil, and balanced exchange.
Quote RTs allow users to quote the tweet they retweet, while adding a short
comment. Our analysis using content, network and crowd labeled data indicates
that the feature has increased political discourse and its diffusion, compared
to existing features. We discuss the implications of our findings in
understanding and reducing online polarization.
