Twitter Rolling Out Downvote Button: How To Use And What Does It Do?

Twitter has been acquired by Elon Musk, but there might not be jubilation, at least among the top executives. Still, the company's core functions and activities seem to be progressing as before. Twitter has started sending out pop-ups to a larger group of people indicating the "Downvote" feature is now available to them. The feature doesn't seem to have the same power or functionality as on YouTube or other popular social media platforms. Let's see where the Downvote button will be available, how to use it, and what pressing the button does to the tweets.

Twitter Offers Downvote Button Just After Elon Musk's Takeover

Twitter could easily be the company to have experienced one of the biggest overhauls in a very short time. After Elon Musk famously walked into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters with a bathroom sink, he quickly got rid of the top management. Musk has been busy chatting and meeting with Twitter employees.

If Musk's previous tweets are any indicator, Twitter's core functions might undergo some drastic changes. One of these changes was suddenly propelled from being tested to being sent to a much larger group of users, presumably hinting at a general rollout in the near future.

Several Twitter users have received a new pop-up indicating they are now eligible to use the Downvote button. The pop-up also explains where the button is visible or available, how to use it, and what pressing the button does.

am i tripping or Elon just applied a downvote button on twitter ? pic.twitter.com/pBiJiAFkS9

— Misaki NFT 🍥 (@NFTMisaki) October 28, 2022

Is Twitter's Downvote Useful And Effective For End-Users?

Usually, a downvote has a significant impact on a social media post's visibility or exposure. Users can indicate their disagreement or displeasure about the content or the views in the post. Moreover, if some post gets a lot of downvotes, it may be flagged for inappropriate or offensive content. Needless to mention, these are sufficient grounds for the removal of content. Simply put, the seemingly humble downvote button has a lot of power.

In Twitter's case, the downvote button doesn't seem to do much and has minimal impact on the visibility of a tweet. In fact, this button doesn't even activate for direct posts or original tweets. Instead, Twitter will activate the downvote button only for replies to tweets.

If users or tweeters do not like a reply to their tweet or feel the reply that isn't contributing to the conversation, they can hit the downvote button.

These downvoted tweets will still remain visible. Moreover, the very fact that a reply has been downvoted, won't be visible to anyone besides the person who posted the original tweet. In other words, downvotes won't be public, and no user will be able to find out how many downvotes a tweet has received, as the count will be hidden.

It appears the downvote will only help Twitter. It could be the platform's way of spotting content that's questionable, inappropriate, or offensive, by asking users to flag such tweets. The downvote button will be gradually rolled out and should be available on Android, iOS, and even the website version of Twitter.