Twitter will start testing its long-anticipated downvote feature globally

Downvoting on Twitter has been in testing since summer last year, and the feature is now finally expanding for testing to more users, reports Engadget. The button will be available to a select group of users around the world, as the company seems to have received positive feedback about the feature since the initial testing performed last July.

Twitter downvote testing expands to more users globally

Twitter said in a post that the company has learned a lot about the types of replies that users don't find relevant, based on the feedback from the initial testing period. Now, the test will be expanded to the web, as well as both iOS and Android users.

The number of downvotes a reply to a tweet gets will not be visible to the public; however, users will be able to see how many downvotes they got on a reply they published. During the first testing period, Twitter had made available several different versions of downvoting. For example, some users had both upvote and downvote buttons, while others had a downvote button next to the heart option.

A third version of the test had thumbs up and thumbs down to indicate upvoting and downvoting. Twitter has not said whether the global tests will have the same options.

But Twitter is a bit late to the party. For example, Reddit has used downvotes since it started back in 2015. Facebook, on the other hand, has tested downvotes in 2018, but the feature never made it to an official global release. On the other hand, Instagram has an option for users to hide likes if they wish to.

Twitter Safety stated that so far, the experiment with downvoting has been a positive experience and that people who had tested it said that it improves the quality of conversations on the platform.

Other Twitter features to look forward to

It's not only downvoting that Twitter has been recently working on. The social media platform has been busy performing tests on different features bound to improve the experience users have when visiting Twitter and socializing with others on the platform.

The most recent feature that we reported on is reportedly dubbed Articles, and it could allow users to create blog-like posts on the platform that don't suffer from the 280-character limit. The feature seems to be in the works and was discovered by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong.

Another interesting feature that Twitter seems to be working on is called Tweet Take, which would allow you to use your camera to add a video or photo reaction to your retweets. When you tap on the retweet button, you would be able to activate your camera to record your reaction, which will then be displayed on the timelines of your followers with the tweet embedded in it.

Currently, this feature is in its testing period, available to select iOS users.

On top of that, Twitter is also testing a new composer bar, which will be located above the bottom navigation bar, and its aim is to replace the floating compose button, so that adding photos, videos, and starting a Space conversation can become easier. This feature is again up for testing on iOS (selected users).

And last but not least, recently we reported on the fact that Twitter will be changing its "Trusted Friends" feature (still in development) into a feature dubbed "Flock". A Flock can contain up to 150 people.