Through a post on February 4, 2022, Twitter has announced that it is expanding the test with Downvotes. More Android and IOS users will be able to access the feature, wherein they will be able to reply to posts by downvoting them. Twitter also tells that the count of downvotes on a post will not be visible publically, however, it will still help the platform recognise the content that users want to see.
Originally, the downvote feature on Twitter was limited to a group of web users, when the platform began testing it in July 2021. However, not it will be rolled out for users on Android and iOS. Testing the feature, Twitter found out that the majority of users react with a downvote when they come across an offensive or irrelevant reply on the platform. Additionally, the micro-blogging platform also reveals that downvoting is most frequently used for flagging content that users do not want to see. Lastly, Twitter also reveals that the feature improves the quality of conversations on Twitter.
We’ve been testing how we can surface the most relevant replies within Tweets with the use of downvoting on replies. As we’re expanding the experiment to a global audience, we want to share a little about what we have learned thus far!
👇 https://t.co/wM0CpwRgo6
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 3, 2022
However, the downvoting feature might be misused by Twitter users to target an individual creator on the platform. Recently, the dislike feature on YouTube faced similar criticism, following which the content sharing platform hid the count of dislikes on videos, saying that it would protect creators from targeted harassment. Since the Twitter downvoting feature has not made it to a lot of mobile devices yet, it is too early to say about the disadvantages of the feature.
In a related update, Twitter might allow users to publish longer blogs or articles on the platform. Currently, the character limit for a Twitter post is 280 characters. However, with a future update, the micro-blogging platform is said to allow users to write much longer articles, exceeding the current limit. The feature will allow users to create long-form of articles for multiple purposes, including creating exclusive content.
Known Twitter tipster Jane Manchun Wong has tweeted the screenshot of an unreleased feature called “Twitter Articles” which may allow users to write long articles on the platform. Along with the screenshot, the tipster has also mentioned the benefits of Twitter Articles, which can be used to create exclusive content for SuperFollows, to create newsletters and to create syndicated articles through a subscriptions based model. Basically, the long format can be used by creators on the platform to their advantage.