YouTube has recently started testing a new timed-specific emoji reactions for a small group of users. Viewers can post an emoji when an exact moment in a video reverberates with them. Users can see how others reacted during a video. It will also feature a separate reaction tab in the comment section of every video, similar to the features previously presented by Facebook Live and Twitch.

“If you are 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. The test will also show you which moments other viewers are reacting to (which will be anonymised — we will not show who sent each reaction),” Meaghan, a representative from Team YouTube stated.

“We are testing multiple sets of reactions and will add or remove reactions based on how the experiment goes!,” the spokesperson added. Google frequently experiments with new features on YouTube, but they do not always become permanent. YouTube recently tested letting users time their comments to specific points in a video and hiding the “dislike” button.

Twitter have also experimented with emoji reactions last year, however, they fell flat. However unlike tweets, videos are a lengthier medium and more likely to provoke many reactions.