Twitter Introduces Emoji Reactions for Direct Messages

Twitter has announced the launch of its new Reactions-like option in direct messages, which enables users to allocate a quick emoji response to any message within a thread.

To get started users can either tap the small “heart and plus icon” displayed to the right of each message received, alternatively users can tap twice a message on mobile to access the emoji reactions menu.

For now, the feature has launched with seven emoji. The emoji offerings include the typical thumbs up, laughing face, heart, and sad crying face emojis, but it’s also trying out a couple of more original options. There’s a fire emoji to let you show your appreciation for sick burns, and a thumbs down emoji for when you need to decide the fate of a Roman gladiator.

Twitter on its support page for the new feature also indicates that users can undo a reaction at any time but also says that all conversation participants get notified whenever you add an emoji reaction to a message, so be sure to react responsibly.

The feature is now live across both the web and mobile, however, Twitter notes that those with the older version of its app will see reactions displayed as text.