Thumbs down is an option on several mainstream social media sites but has never been on Twitter. Now, the company seems to be testing a thumbs-down option for its users. Today the company Tweeted that some iOS users may see different options on some of the Tweet replies they see in their streams. Android users are not part of this experiment.
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Twitter says they are testing this “to understand the types of replies you find relevant in a conversation, so we can work on ways to show more of them.” The company also says that Twitter will not show thumbs-down votes to the public, but the thumbs-up votes will show as likes.
Some of you on iOS may see different options to up or down vote on replies. We’re testing this to understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 21, 2021
Your downvotes aren’t public, while your upvotes will be shown as likes. pic.twitter.com/hrBfrKQdcY
There are mixed feelings about including a thumbs-down option, with many firmly against the idea, citing they feel it would become more like Reddit. Some users also feel others may abuse the option, while others quipped that Twitter still doesn’t have an edit button, but they want to add this.
The conversation is certainly heated and controversial on the subject, and it will be interesting to see what comes of this idea. The company had introduced a feature called Fleets which were Tweets that lived at the top of your stream and expired in 24-hours.
Like any other idea, some people loved Fleets while others hated them. It will be the same with the thumbs-down option. People will love it or hate it. For now, it’s just being rolled out to select iOS users and being tested in the background.
Let us know if you have this new Twitter option and how you like it. If you don’t have the option, what do you think of it? Do you want it? Or not? You can share your thoughts on any of the social media pages listed below. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.