Sad to say that ‘Twitter 2.0’ is starting to look more like ‘Twitter 1.5’, what with its supposed upgrades already having been somewhat implemented and tested in the past. Apparently, stuff like Tweet view counts and subscription offers were already once penned in but were canceled due to the previous management finding them to ‘lack value’.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that they were right. Perhaps there is a way for Elon and his team to revitalize these old proposals and repackage them as something new to try and get more people to pay for them as worthy add-on features. A bit of a scummy way to go about it, but hey, all business models have their ‘workarounds’.
Tweets with Emotions!
It seems that ‘Tweet Reactions’ are what’s next on Musk’s list of ideas; it’s nothing novelty, as Twitter has already tried adding reactions several times in the past. The most recent Tweet reaction experiment came in last March when Twitter sought user feedback on the potential of more Emoji responses on top of the ‘heart’ icon.
Of course, there is some logic to this, Reactions have become a bit of a habitual response option for many because they’re now readily accessible on many social and messaging apps. Twitter itself already has reactions within DMs, adding six more options on top of the globally famous heart icon.
Popular as it may be, certain situations would be made terribly awkward if the only reaction available was a ‘heart’. So, extra Tweet reactions, at least in this regard, would make sense, making for good accompaniment despite the option being repeatedly shelved by Twitter’s previous managing team. It’s likely that Musk will try it out, with most of his flagged recommendations making it onto the live platform thus far.
With this in mind, the most interesting aspect will be to see whether said reaction set also includes the equally-famous ‘Thumbs-up’ and ‘Thumbs-down’ reactions, similar to those available in Tweet DMs. Likewise, it could also become an interesting response and potential ranking consideration.
Musk has already signaled that Twitter’s looking to factor in more user response options into Tweet ranking, complete with mute and hide options to serve as limiters for both Tweet and user reach, should the need arise. Perhaps up and downvotes, even via reactions, could be another consideration. If Musk truly wants Twitter to be a reflection of the people’s voice, then direct feedback response signals will be his best friend.
The Wrap
That’s a bit more challenging on Twitter because the main Feed updates in real-time, so it’s not always possible to rank Tweets based on user votes. However, it could at least be a way to glean more feedback on what people want and don’t, which could be part of Musk’s broader reformation of the app.
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