Twitter expands the ‘Downvote’ Option to its users worldwide

All over the world, Twitter users have started to see the new “downvote” feature on the website, and slowing to iOS and Android. 

In July last year, when it started testing the feature, the microblogging site said it was seeking a better way to recommend more interesting and relevant replies in a longer conversation thread. 

Twitter now says it is “expanding the experiment to a global audience,” 

The “downvote” option was only available to a small set of web users, but Twitter claims it will soon be available to iOS and Android users as well. 

Unlike on Reddit, overall counts for upvotes and downvotes aren’t visible. Twitter only use the numbers to modify the replies it shows users. “Downvotes aren’t public, but they’ll help inform us of the content people want to see,” Twitter Support explained. 

Twitter’s downvote option rolled out in three different test variations. In the first round of tests, it presented different versions of downvoting. Some users saw upvote and downvote buttons, while others only saw a downvote button next to the heart/like option. A third version showed testers thumbs up and down buttons instead. Twitter didn’t say if the new global tests would offer the same options.

According to the Twitter Support page (@TwitterSupport), a majority of users “clicked the down arrow… because the reply was perceived as offensive, or because they perceived it as not relevant, or both.” 

Downvoting also became the most frequently used way for people to flag content they don’t want to see, the company added.

Below are a few things Twitter wants its users to take note of; 

1. This is just a test for research right now. 

2. This is not a dislike button.

3. Your downvotes are visible to you only. 

4. Votes won’t change the order of replies. 

In conclusion, Twitter says it wants to improve the quality of conversations on its social network, which means the downvote option might (in the future) become a permanent addition to the site.

Please note that the feature is only available for replies to tweets, not to the original tweet.