Twitter might be taking inspiration from Facebook to implement a brand-new feature. The microblogging platform is copying, or to some extent getting inspiration from, Facebook’s social media reaction system. The information was revealed this weekend by the well-known researcher Jane Manchun Wong who has been tipping the internet about other upcoming Twitter features.
According to researcher Jane Manchun Wong, alongside the “Like” button, Twitter is also working on “Cheer,” “Hmm,” “Sad,” and “Haha” reactions. The icons for these tweet reactions are the same as the emojis. But Twitter has yet to decide on the cheer and sadness icons and uses the generic heart icon right now. As per the screenshot shared by Wong, Twitter will show the different tweet reactions and the number of reactions received. It is similar to how Facebook displays emoji reactions to posts and comments. Twitter is also expected to show who reacted with which emoji.
Reactions were first introduced by Facebook over four years ago. They have since been copied by other platforms, including Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. While Twitter’s ‘sad’ and ‘haha’ options are the same as you see on Facebook, ‘hmm’ and ‘cheer’ are their own. LinkedIn too has its own reactions, like “celebrate”, “support” and more.
Wong isn’t the first to point out the existence of reactions in Twitter’s future though. The company had been conducting surveys with select users in March. In fact, the company seemed to have a much larger set of reactions in the works at the time.
In fact, the company asked users to choose between two sets of reactions. While the options remained the same–like, funny, interesting, sad, awesome, support, and angry–the company was testing different emojis for these reactions. The company also asked users how they would feel if their tweets are downvoted or disliked using these reactions.
The reaction emojis were very positively received by Facebook users. For that reason, it is safe to assume that users will enjoy it on Twitter too. In the past, Facebook users only had the option to Like posts, and sometimes that was not the best way to express one’s feelings or true reactions. Nowadays, it is much better for users to put a Haha on a funny post or a Crying reaction when they are sad with a specific post. This will certainly become a hit on Twitter once it is launched.
When implemented, this would add to the list of new features recently implemented throughout the app. Over the last year, Twitter has added Spaces, Fleet, and Tip Jar features. More recently, the app had allowed for the user to apply for the coveted blue check, but it appears they will roll that feature back.
Twitter Spaces also became available on the desktop and mobile web pages this week. It allows users to participate in this Clubhouse-like feature without using their phones.
