Twitter Tests Emoji Reactions For Tweets Beyond Simple ‘Like’

Twitter announced on Thursday that it is testing emoji reactions for tweets that go beyond a simple “like.” 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.”

Twitter said the test is only scheduled to run for a limited time, but added that it might expand it to users in more countries depending on the response.

While providing authors better feedback about how their tweet has been received, Twitter said that the new feature is expected to give people more ways to quickly show how they feel about a tweet

The emoji are accessible via a long-press of the Like button, while a short tap will send a regular Like. Rumors of the test emerged earlier this year after users reported being surveyed about potential emoji for inclusion.

Image Credit: Twitter

Emoji reactions have been available for years on other services like Facebook, as well as on Twitter itself within direct messages. But what’s interesting about Twitter’s emoji choices for its latest test is that none of them are especially negative. There’s no “Angry face” like you’ll find 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.

Twitter said that the new test will be available on iOS, android and the web to users in Turkey who want to give the new reaction a try.