Twitter is currently working on a new feature “Upvote and Downvote” reaction for tweets and replies. This is part of the social network’s latest experimental feature designed to give it more insight into what kind of replies users find relevant in a conversation.
Twitter said it was testing the feature for a small group of users on iOS, which is already spotted on multiple tweets for those who are part of the test group.
The goal is to be able to gather enough data, so the platform can work on ways to surface more relevant responses. In long threads, for instance, the best replies don’t always show up immediately and might be buried underneath tons of other people’s tweets.
Twitter writes that iOS users may see upvote and downvotes in several different styles (up and down arrows, a heart icon and a down arrow, and thumbs up and thumbs down icons) and that it’s testing the feature to “understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.”
At the moment, votes won’t change the order of responses similar to how Reddit buries replies that get a ton of downvotes.
No word yet if Twitter plans to add upvote and downvote as a permanent feature to the platform.