Emoji reactions for tweets that go beyond a simple “Like,” were on Friday being tested, Twitter has announced.
By this development, over the coming days, users in Turkey will be able to respond to tweets with the “Face with tears of joy” emoji, “Thinking face,” “Clapping hands,” “Crying face,” or a simple “Heart.”
The test, according to the announcement, is only scheduled to run for a limited time, even as Twitter said it might expand it to users in more countries depending on the response.
The idea behind the feature is to give people more ways to quickly show how they feel about a tweet, Twitter informed while providing authors better feedback about how their tweet had been received.
The emoji are accessible via a long-press of the Like button, while a short tap will send a regular Like. Rumours of the test emerged earlier this year after users reported being surveyed about potential emoji for inclusion.
Emoji reactions have been available for years on other services like Facebook, as well as on Twitter itself within direct messages. But what is interesting about Twitter’s emoji choices for its latest test is that none of them is especially negative. There’s no “Angry face” like on Facebook, or “Thumbs down” like in Twitter’s direct message emoji reactions.
Twitter explains that it decided against choosing these negative emoji because people it surveyed said: “they were concerned about receiving negative reactions to some of their thoughts.” A valid concern is given how toxic many conversations on Twitter can be.
Meanwhile, the emoji it has included earned their spot by being representative of the most common emotions people experience while reading tweets, as well as “universally recognizable.” That probably explains why the incredibly passive-aggressive “Slightly smiling face” emoji didn’t make the cut.
If you’re in Turkey and want to give the new reactions a go, Twitter said the feature is rolling out over the coming days in the country. The test will be available on iOS, Android, and the web.
