As defined by Twitter:

“We realized loads concerning the forms of replies you do not discover related and we’re increasing this check – extra of you on net and shortly iOS and Android could have the choice to make use of reply downvoting. Downvotes aren’t public, however they’re going to assist inform us of the content material folks need to see.”

Twitter initially launched its downvote check again in July, on iOS solely, which many customers noticed as a ‘dislike’ choice for tweet replies. Which Twitter says it isn’t, precisely.

“We’re hoping to higher perceive what folks imagine are related replies, and the way that matches as much as what Twitter suggests as most the related replies underneath a Tweet.”

So the concept is that these insights will assist Twitter enhance its algorithms to show the very best replies underneath every tweet, these aren’t a measure of your private response to a acknowledged opinion nor are they designed to be a method to bury dangerous tweets, as they’re on Reddit.

However in impact, that’s each how they work and what they’ll be used for – although Twitter has additionally offered some perception into the preliminary learnings that it’s gleaned from the primary months of the check:

“A majority of our customers shared that the rationale they clicked the down arrow was both as a result of the reply was perceived as offensive, or as a result of they perceived it as not related, or each. This experiment additionally revealed that downvoting is probably the most regularly used approach for folks to flag content material they do not need to see. Lastly, individuals who have examined downvoting agree it improves the standard of conversations on Twitter.”

In principle, Twitter’s downvote system is designed to push down spam and junk feedback, however in actuality, persons are downvoting issues that they discover personally offensive and/or issues they don’t need to see. Which may, after all, be seen as a type of censorship, particularly if extra folks look to make use of the choice to blitz dissenting opinions.

However perhaps that’s what customers need – the very act of utilizing the downvote button on any reply is an intentional sign that you just don’t like or need to see that sort of content material on the platform, in your individual private expertise. The idea isn’t designed to reasonable replies, as such, as dislike counts usually are not public, however it might find yourself serving as a approach for Twitter to study precisely the forms of issues that individuals hate. Which may enhance the overall high quality of dialog within the app, however once more, could also be seen as censorship.

Ultimately, I can think about some will see this as Twitter’s personal type of ‘shadowbanning’, with their replies getting much less publicity and engagement on account of downvotes. However then once more, it will even be very troublesome for the tweet writer to see how the method has impacted their remark, as they wouldn’t essentially have the ability to view the way it’s ranked within the total reply chain.

The downvotes additionally aren’t on normal tweets, simply replies, which does scale back the general influence. However Twitter may nonetheless look to include what it learns from the check for its total tweet rating algorithm, which may influence normal tweets additionally.

It’s an attention-grabbing check, and it’s attention-grabbing to contemplate the Reddit mannequin as a template of types for this, with Twitter even coloring its downvote button in Reddit orange.

Primarily, it serves the same goal to Reddit downvotes, in surfacing probably the most participating, most attention-grabbing dialogue factors inside every thread to spice up consumer engagement. And perhaps, whether it is profitable, Twitter may contemplate increasing downvotes to all tweets.

That will be a really attention-grabbing improvement. Twitter hasn’t urged that it is perhaps even contemplating this. However it may very well be the logical development to spice up consumer engagement.

That will be a game-changer for the platform, and the court docket of public opinion.