Twitter Emoji Reactions Are Coming, Might Include Dislikes

Facebook's blue thumbs up "Like" might have now become iconic but it hardly represents any of the sentiments that users might like to convey over a certain post. Some have even gotten used to hitting that Like button when they want to convey sorrow or sympathy. While it still hasn't yielded to add a "Dislike" option, Facebook has long since expanded its reactions to a select set of emojis, something that Twitter seems to be on its way to adopting as well.

Likes, hearts, and their equivalents are simply used to denote a positive response to a post. They are, of course, inefficient at actually expressing proper responses that can cover a wide range of emotions and, consequently, emojis. They do, however, also make things simpler and anything that goes beyond a single emoji can be expressed via comments.

Whether you like it or not, however, emoji reactions are becoming more common in social networks and communication platforms. Some have even gone overboard, allowing users to select from all the emojis available to react to a comment or post. Facebook offers a limited and fixed set instead and, based on a survey sent to some users, Twitter will be using that system as well.

What could set Twitter's emoji reactions is that it could include negative responses like thumbs down or a red 100 emoji to express disagreement. "Downvotes" have long been available on the likes of Reddit and YouTube but Facebook has so far refused to go down that slippery slope.

Responses to Twitter's emoji reaction surveys have been mixed, with some bemoaning the complication that will arise from this new system. That said, it isn't set in stone either and, given potential backlash, Twitter could withhold the feature for a while.