Is Anyone Using Twitter's Downvote Button? Learn About It and the Platform's Other Game-Changing New FeaturesThe downvote button is eliciting some strong reactions, with two concerns dominating the conversation.
ByAmanda Breen•
SomeTwitterusers realized there was a new feature on the app on Friday: a downvote button, reminiscent of those on other social platforms likeRedditandYouTube.
Ahead of the rollout, the Twitter Support accountannouncedThursday that the downvote button would be available on the web and subsequently on Android and iOS. Users with access to the new feature, which appears as an upside-down arrow to the right of the heart-shaped "like" button, will receive a notification when they open the website or app that explains how it works. Downvotes can't be seen by the Tweet's author or others on the timeline.
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Naturally, the new feature elicited some strong opinions from users on the platform, with someexpressing confusionabout its purpose orderiding itfor being too similar to Reddit's.
But the new feature is only available on replies, not original posts, and according to Twitter, the downvote button's goal is to signal to the platform when a reply is offensive or irrelevant. Ultimately, Twitter hopes the downvote button will help the platform highlight high-quality content.
So, will anyone actually use the new feature? Not everyone is so sure, with two camps entering the conversation: Those who fear the downvote button will be used to excess, potentiallysilencing marginalized groups, and those whosee it as an ineffective bandaidonTwitter's well-known hate speech issue.
但在一次简短的线程周四公布,Twitter麦ntained that most users who select the downvote option do so because it meets the problems the platform wants to weed out: offensiveness or irrelevance. Of course, only time will tell if that's truly the case as the platform continues the global rollout of the feature.
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What's more, the downvote button was only one of several features introduced to the platform this week. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that all web andAndroid usersworldwide would have the option to add one-time warnings to photos and videos, with some iOS users seeing that option as well. Additionally, select iOS users will see a DM icon on Tweets so they can reply directly and privately to an author, and in Brazil, an experimental feature urges users to rethink replies containing harmful language.
