Twitter is testing upvote and downvote reactions for replies to tweets, which show up as additional options to the usual retweet, like and reply for some people on iOS that are part of the test group. Some people might also see like and dislike buttons instead of Twitter’s usual like and the new downvote icon.
Twitter has clarified that they’re only experimenting with the feature right now, and this will help in their internal research for the time being.
The downvotes aren’t visible publicly to others, even in the test group, and only the person voting can see their reaction. However, the upvotes will be shown as likes.
While Twitter says that through this test, they’re trying “to understand the types of replies” people find “relevant” so that they can make those more visible, currently, these votes won’t change the order of replies.
While some might compare the new like and dislike buttons to Facebook’s style of like buttons, the overall function of the upvotes and downvotes that will eventually decide the order of replies depending on the engagement they garner is more akin to Reddit’s upvote and downvote system.
Twitter is also shutting down its 24-hour disappearing stories feature, called Fleets, on August 3. Twitter introduced Fleets globally in November 2020 but hasn’t seen as much engagement around the feature as they hoped for and, as a result, are taking it down early next month. You can read the full story here.
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