Twitter Could Be Working On Facebook-Style Reactions

Twitter could be adding some new emojis to augment its formerly star-shaped, currently heart-shaped Like button, according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong. The Verge reports: The assets Wong found -- which have been reliable predictions of future features in the past -- show "cheer," "hmm," "sad," and "haha" emoji reactions, though some currently only have a placeholder emoji. Facebook has had a similar set of reactions since 2016. But Wong's leak shows that Twitter could be taking a slightly different path when it comes to which moods it wants users to express: while it has laughing and sad expressions in common with Facebook, Twitter may also include a makes-you-think and cheer option. Twitter doesn't seem to have the "angry" expression that Facebook does, but that may be because anger on Twitter is already handled by the reply and quote tweet functions.

"anger on Twitter is already handled..."

[h33t l4x0r]

by the reply and quote tweet functions

You don't want to be that guy.

Not for expression

[sound+vision]

This is less about letting you express yourself, and more about tracking your emotions. Consequently, to manipulate your emotions, for maximum "engagement."

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Correct, but also to get you to "move along" and look at more ads.

A user typing several sentences for a comment sees no additional ads while doing so.
 

I laugh

[Dan East]

It always makes me laugh when some big tech company announces something as monumentally trivial as this, both in function and implementation.

Re:

[pauljlucas]

Agreed, but I also find it odd that there's at least one "app researcher" whose job (or hobby) is dissecting apps trying to figure out what a company might be working on for their next app release. Who cares?