Twitter testing new emoji reactions for your timeline

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Twitter Logo (Image credit: Twitter)

What you need to know

  • Twitter is testing new emoji reactions.
  • It is offering users reactions with four new emojis, "tears of joy," "thinking face," "clapping hands" and "crying face."
  • They're available in Turkey for a limited time.

Twitter has started testing new emoji reactions for users in Turkey for a limited time.

As reported by Engadget:

Other than some developer tests, Twitter has only ever offered you one way to react to tweets: the classic heart "Like" emoji and prior to 2015, the "Favorite" star button. Now, the social media network might be finally expanding that range as it's testing a new feature called "Reactions" with additional emoji over the coming days.

For a limited time users in Turkey will be able to use four new emojis alongside the like heart, "tears of joy," "thinking face," "clapping hands" and "crying face." Twitter reportedly says it's looking for emojis that "are universally recognizable and represent what people want to express about Tweets." Using surveys and research it has whittled it down to four, and that whilst some people revealed they also wanted to express frustration and anger at tweets, they decided not to include a disagree or dislike emoji. In fact, Twitter wants the opposite and hopes the new more positive emojis will drive "healthy public conversations" and give people a better idea of how their Tweets are being received. The new emojis will be available for a limited time only on iOS, Android, and the web, and only in Turkey. Twitter does however say that it might expand the test based on how it goes.

Twitter has this week also announced a new communities feature it is testing, which will let you tweet to like-minded people with similar interests in spaces that include moderators and rules.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9