Likes and the likes are so outdated. Reactions can say a lot more.
Reactions are simple ways to convey a feeling or thought, without having to come up with something interesting to say. For users, the feature should save them a lot of time, and this is why Twitter launched Reactions-like option in its direct messages.
This should enable users to allocate a quick emoji response to any message within a thread.
Emoji reactions can be added to both text and media messages.
According to Twitter in its help page:
Say more with new emoji reactions for Direct Messages!
To add a reaction, click the icon that appears when you hover over the message on web or double tap the message on mobile and select an emoji from the pop-up.
For more about DM reactions: https://t.co/sdMumGDBYl https://t.co/QxMVmGt8eY— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 22, 2020
Initially, the feature has seven Reactions emojis, meaning that Twitter has one more than what Facebook in the meantime supports.
They include the crying LOL, shocked/surprised, actually sad, heart, flame, thumb-up and thumb-down.
The Reactions feature works on both desktop and the updated mobile app. If users are in a group DM, they can hover or click the reaction to see who sent it.
Twitter also noted that sending Reactions will by default send a notification to all conversation participants “any time a new reaction is added to a message.” What this means, Reactions sent repeatedly can annoy people in a group message.
While this should certainly be a welcome feature, Twitter is late.
Rival messaging platforms such as Apple iMessage and Facebook Messenger have had emoji reactions for years, whereas Twitter has long kept things relatively minimal and chat-focused in its DMs.
But given the availability of similar tools on other messaging platforms, it makes sense for Twitter to move a step forward with its own solutions. By tapping into habitual messaging behavior, Twitter can expect more engagements on its platform.
The option was first spotted in testing by reverse engineering by Jane Manchun Wong back in October 2019. And a few hour before the proper announcement, the social network teased the incoming tweak in a tweet about sliding into DMs that actually revealed the full lineup of reaction emojis.
Twitter said that all users of the platform can use this Reactions feature. And as for those on older version of the app (iOS or Android) which doesn’t support message reactions, they'll instead see Reactions displayed as text-based messages.