X

Twitter tests emoji-style reactions on tweets

Twitter is testing Tweet Reactions in Turkey, but the company could expand the feature to other regions.

Queenie Wong Former Senior Writer
Queenie Wong was a senior writer for CNET News, focusing on social media companies including Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter and TikTok. Before joining CNET, she worked for The Mercury News in San Jose and the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. A native of Southern California, she took her first journalism class in middle school.
Expertise I've been writing about social media since 2015 but have previously covered politics, crime and education. I also have a degree in studio art. Credentials
  • 2022 Eddie award for consumer analysis
Queenie Wong
2 min read
twitter-9925

Twitter has been experimenting more with new features.

James Martin/CNET

Twitter wants to give users more ways to express how they feel about a tweet. 

screen-shot-2021-09-08-at-3-20-25-pm.png

Twitter users in Turkey will have five different emoji reactions to choose from during the experiment.

Twitter

Currently, Twitter users click on a heart icon if they want to "like" a tweet. On Thursday, Twitter said it's testing Tweet Reactions, giving users the option of clicking on emojis such as a laughing crying face, a sad face with a single tear, a thinking face, hands clapping or a heart. The company is making the reactions available in Turkey for a limited time but said it could expand the experiment to other places. To access the reactions, Twitter users long press on the heart icon on a tweet.

Twitter has been experimenting with more features as it tries to get people to use the social media site more often. Other social networks such as Facebook already offer users a way to react to a post that goes beyond the like button.

Twitter said it choose the emojis for Tweet Reactions after conducting research about the most common words and emojis in tweets and surveying people about the emotions they feel after reading a tweet. The most commonly used emoji in tweets, the company said, is the laughing crying face emoji. Twitter users also felt negative emotions such as frustration and anger after reading tweets, but the company said it's not including those reactions for now as part of its experiment.

"People we spoke with expressed that they were concerned about receiving negative reactions to some of their thoughts and that if people felt this way about their Tweets, they'd prefer other methods of engagement that allow for more context," Twitter said.