The microblogging site Twitter has begun to test downvote replies for a global audience. The experimental feature, which was tested last year for some iOS users, is now available to global audience.
Twitter said this feature helps a user in understanding how relevant the replies are in a conversation. The feature also indicates the type of replies a user finds relevant in a conversation. However, the downvote feature is not visible to the public.
Initially, this feature was available to a selected group of web users, but Twitter says it will soon be expanding for Android and iOS users.
Twitter on its support account had given some keynotes of this experiment. It said the downvote feature is not like a dislike button. And, it will be visible to you only which means other users will not be able to see which replies you have marked with downvotes, and the votes won’t make any changes in the “order of reply”.
“This experiment also revealed that downvoting is the most frequently used way for people to flag content they don’t want to see”, Twitter had said on its Twitter Support page.
Twitter might make the downvote a permanent feature on its platform.
“Finally, people who have tested downvoting agree it improves the quality of conversations on Twitter. We’re excited to see how others think of it as it becomes available to more of you”, the company added.