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."
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
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.
