Twitter tested a new feature that would let users react to tweets with emoji, according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong. This isn’t the first time Twitter has experimented with emoji reactions as SocialMediaToday reports, having played around with the idea back in 2015 when Facebook was developing its own take. But the feature is no longer in testing, the company said.
A screenshot posted by Wong on June 10th shows a tweet-reaction interface, giving the option to respond to a tweet with emoji including the crying with laughter and shocked faces. There’s also the option to “React with Fleet,” a reference to Twitter’s Snapchat Stories-style disappearing tweets that’s only available in a handful of countries, alongside the typical “Retweet” and “Retweet with comment” options.
Although the feature is no longer in testing, the company’s recent decision to let some people turn off replies to their tweets could have made it far more useful now. Without the option to send a written reply to a tweet, you might want to post a more nuanced reaction beyond favoriting a tweet with a heart icon. Twitter also recently introduced the ability to react to direct messages, indicating an interest in emoji reactions generally.
Correction, 7:54 p.m, June 11th: This story originally said that emoji reactions were in testing. After it was published, Twitter said the code that Wong found had been left over from a previous experiment and is no longer in use. The feature is not currently in testing, Twitter said.
