Twitter recently replaced its ubiquitous “favorite” button with a heart-shaped “like” button, a move not appreciated by many Twitter users. Now the micro-blogging giant plans to compensate for that by adding more emojis to its platform.
Twitter plans more emojis
Twitter user _Ninji noticed a wide range of new emojis to choose from, including a frown and party noisemaker, by hovering over the heart. The Verge was the first to spot the tweets.
“I love how the unfinished Twitter emoji favourites feature lets you ? tweets. Bet I’m gonna get a lot of thos,” _Ninji tweeted.
It appears as if Twitter will feature about 36 emojis on the iPhone app. The app will give you four icons to choose from, and then you click the “…” button to access three pages of emoji. Earlier this month, Twitter replaced a star icon that meant “favorite” with a heart to convey a “like.” Explaining the change, the company said new Twitter users get confused about the purpose the star button served, adding that there are a lot of things a Twitter user likes but that all can’t be favorites.
“The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people,” Akarshan Kumar, a product manager at Twitter, said.
Rising popularity of emojis
The popularity of emojis and GIFs is increasing at a fast pace as they help users quickly communicate their emotions or reaction to an event. These small faces have grown so popular that even Oxford Dictionaries chose the “face with tears of joy” as the Word of the Year for 2015.
Apart from Twitter, other social platforms are also developing their own emojis. Rival Facebook is testing Reactions, a feature that gives users a range of emojis to choose from such as “love,” “wow,” “haha” and “yay.” The company has made available angry and sad faces in Spain and Ireland during a test to supplement Facebook’s “like” button.
As of now, there has been no comment (well not actually) from Twitter about the matter. In response to The Verge and to USA TODAY, Twitter made use of a “speak-no-evil” monkey emoji. That’s it.
