San Francisco – Last week Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) users expressed their unhappy opinion regarding the platform’s exchange of the classic “favorite” option for a heart, but the company may start opening up more to clients’ opinion by adding emojis freely in their tweets.
Users made a clear statement to the international platform by complaining and tweeting about their opinions on the new red heart which is replacing the “favorite” option on all tweets. Twitter announced earlier in November the switch in order to convey a “like” rather than a “favorite.” They also stated that the star which represented the “favorite” option was confusing to newcomers and that the heart would be easier to handle as it is a universal symbol.
“Twitter users might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people,” said Akarshan Kumar, product manager from Twitter.
However, after hearing its audience, Twitter has begun to test other ways to make the app even more dynamic, and this is by the use of emoji. Some users, such as @_Ninji have gained access to a developer version of the social media in where three screens or emoji are presented. This raw version is quite limited, giving clients the option to “sob face” rather than simply putting a heart or “face with tears of joy” emoji next to something they didn’t like that much. Nevertheless, it is a jailbroken version of the app and includes 100 emoji.
If the platform manages to introduce a broader range of emotions, such as those available in WhatsApp and iMessage, it will further expand their already growing popularity and catch up to the rising emoji-GIFs culture which is ever so common amongst millennials worldwide. In fact, said culture is gaining such popularity that the Oxford Dictionary chose “face with tears of joy” emoji as its 2015 Word of the Year, making a bold statement and reference to “emoji culture.”
Source: USA Today