Twitter Starts Testing Downvote Button With Select Users, Here's How it Looks

Twitter has started testing a new “downvote” button, which it describes as not a “dislike button.” The company says that it is testing the feature with select iOS users to understand the types of replies they find relevant in a conversation, based on which it will decide upon the final rollout. A promotional poster on the Twitter Support account shows the regular heart or like button on tweets that sits with the existing comment and retweet buttons. However, replies within a tweet now contain two new options of upvote or like and downvote, represented by thumbs up and down, respectively. The same downvote (read dislike) button on posts or replies has been long overdue on Facebook, and the company has not yet added the option, despite adding the option to react with multiple emojis. Video giant YouTube, on the other hand, has been offering both like and dislike buttons for over ten years. Interestingly, the Alphabet-owned company started testing dislike counts from its platform in March this year but not removing the option entirely.

Twitter adds that downvotes aren’t public yet, and upvotes will be shown as likes. Twitter is yet to share details over its Android availability for testers. The company reiterates that downvotes are not dislikes and votes won’t change the order of replies. It also appears that the company won’t show the downvote (or dislike) counts. Twitter explains, “this isn’t quite a dislike button. In this research experiment, the thumbs down icon is a down vote that lets us know that you think the reply isn’t relevant to the conversation. We want to better understand the types of replies you do and don’t find relevant in a convo.” The company also clarified that downvotes aren’t public, and users will not be notified if someone has downvoted your reply. “Upvoting a reply as part of this test will be treated as a like – you’ll be notified, and the reply will show up in their Likes tab,” it added.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.