Twitter may soon let users attach Facebook-style emoji reactions to posts, including liking or disliking public tweets with either a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji.
Surveying Folks About Emoji Reactions
The company has been surveying some of its users about a broad set of emoji reactions for weeks now. The survey asks people how they’d feel about a few different sets of light-hearted reaction emojis. Curiously, Twitter’s Chief Design Officer Dantley Davis recently told a customer inquiring about emoji reactions the “we’ll have something for you soon.”
As a reminder, Twitter recently added a heart emoji to its direct messaging interface.
We’ll have something for you soon.
— Dantley Davis (@dantley) March 19, 2021
Aside from the usual suspects—a laughing face with tears, a crying face, a thinking face, an angry face, a shocked face, and more—some of the surveyed users have reported seeing emoji reactions for liking or disliking a tweet with either a thumbs up or thumbs down.
A spokesperson has confirmed Twitter is “exploring additional ways for people to express themselves in conversations” happening on the platform. They also told The Verge that the reaction emojis would exist in addition to the current heart icon, rather than replacing it.
Per this survey I just took, Twitter is considering adding emoji reaction sets and downvoting. I think either of those might be what forces me off this site. pic.twitter.com/uEgtmrSk7F
— john d moore (@jdm0079) March 18, 2021
According to TechCrunch, some people reported seeing a different set of like/dislike reaction emojis, such as Reddit-like green up arrow and red down arrow icons.
A Risky Move That Could Anger Users
Seeing how popular reaction emojis have been with users on Facebook and other social networks, Twitter could be onto something here. On the other hand, the company learned the hard way when it replaced starts with hearts a few years back that many of its customers strongly dislike major changes to how they engage with tweets.
Asking people how they feel about emoji-style reactions on is one thing. However, the real litmus test will start once the company begins rolling out the feature publicly. Of course, Twitter could also postpone the feature or even nix it entirely should the survey prove that people find the change too radical for their tastes.
Adding More Nuance to Tweets
At the very least, the very existence of the questionnaire proves Twitter is approaching this carefully, aware that emoji reactions may not sit well with its users. For instance, the survey asks respondents how they would feel if their own tweets were downvoted.
The responses offered range from “I don’t like receiving a negative reaction” to “I would use the feedback on the tweet constructively to create betters tweets in the future” to “I may hesitate to tweet in the future for fear of receiving negative reactions” and beyond.
No matter how you look at it, bringing Facebook-style reaction emoji to the platform is bound to be controversial. Because Twitter users typically don’t post anonymously like in the Reddit and YouTube commenting sections, some of them might become afraid that their public tweets could become downvoted.
And that alone might be enough to prompt Twitter to kill this planned feature.