Twitter tests Facebook-like tweet reactions

Twitter is trying out Facebook’s look for size.

On Thursday, Twitter announced the start of a limited test of emoji tweet reactions. Much like Facebook’s, officially launched in 2016, the new feature grants users the ability to respond to tweets with a selection of at least five predetermined emoji in addition to the standard reply and quote tweet options.

The test, which is for now running only in Turkey and will be “made available to everyone [in Turkey] over the coming days,” includes 🤔, 😢, 😂, 👏, and the classic ❤️. As explained by Twitter, the reactions will hopefully do more than just give people an easy way to dash off a response.

“Reactions give people more ways to quickly show how they feel in conversations, while also giving those Tweeting a better understanding of how their Tweets are received, which could potentially lead to improved expression and participation in the public conversation,” explained Twitter in a press release.

There they are.
Credit: twitter

While the test is for now only running in one country for an unspecified limited time (we asked Twitter what “limited” meant, but received no immediate response), it will no doubt remind avid Twitter users of another time their platform of choice followed in another’s footsteps when it came to emoji reactions.

Way back in 2015, Twitter killed off its star-shaped favorite button in favor of the heart-emoji “likes” still used today. As the Verge pointed out at the time, Tumblr had been using red heart emoji since 2008, and Facebook had the “like” since 2009.

Looking fancy.
Credit: Twitter

Twitter says it may expand the emoji reaction test, but didn’t clarify when that may happen. It’s important to emphasize that Twitter has run many feature experiments before, and always insists that many such projects never see prime time (and some of those that initially do end up going the way of Fleets). In other words, you may never get the chance to slap a face-with-tears-of-joy emoji reaction on someone’s dumb tweet (though you could always drop one in the replies).

SEE ALSO: Twitter’s new ‘Communities’ let users embrace the echo chamber

Still, the fact that Twitter is even testing out emoji reactions says a lot.

Facebook, which has over the years shamelessly copied feature after feature from its competitors, long ago took the stance that imitation is the highest form of flattery. It seems that Twitter, at least when it comes to this limited emoji reaction test, has decided to imitate that very stance.