YouTube tests letting you leave emoji reactions at specific moments on videos

Abner Li | Mar 28 2022 - 2:25 pm PT

Viewer feedback on YouTube today consists of liking (or disliking) and leaving text comments on videos. YouTube is now experimenting with timed reactions that let you share emoji at an exact moment in a video.

The Google site is trialing this new feature on the heels of timed comments that let users view and leave comments at specific moments. That feature remains an experiment and not widely rolled out.

If you’re watching a video that is part of this experiment, you can react and see crowd reactions by opening the comment section of the video and tapping into the reaction panel.

YouTube will show which moments other people are responding to just above the timeline in the video window. However, reactions will be anonymized, and you won’t be able to see who sent what.

We’re testing multiple sets of reactions and will add or remove reactions based on how the experiment goes!

So far, this looks to include Face with Tears of Joy, heart, Shock(?) Face, Party Popper/celebration, 100%, question mark, Light Bulb/idea, and Screaming Cat.

YouTube is piloting the timed emoji reactions experiment with a “small number of channels to start.”

We know community is important to you, so we’re committed to bringing you more features that strengthen the sense of community on YouTube. Have fun with the timed reactions and let us know what you think in the comments.