People Have A Lot Of Feelings About Facebook's New Bitmoji-Like Avatar

Facebook recently launched its version of a Bitmoji in the United States, and users have gotten to play around, creating their Avatars and sharing their animated doppelgängers on the social media platform. Judging from the conversation on Twitter about the update — and on how the feature stacks up to its competitors — it's safe to say feelings are pretty mixed. These tweets about Facebook Avatars show people are conflicted about the new feature.

Social media users have had their share of online doppelgängers over the past few years with iterations from Snapchat (Bitmoji) and Apple (Memoji). Now Facebook is bringing its Avatar feature stateside. The brand previously released Avatars to users in Australia in June 2019, and now U.S. users can create and share animated versions of themselves in comments and Stories, and on Messenger. Fidji Simo, head of mobile at Facebook, shared the news of the U.S. release in a Facebook post on May 13. In her post, Simo revealed the feature will eventually become available to use for text posts with backgrounds as well.

While the idea of creating a personalized digital version of yourself complete with your unique physical characteristics and emotions is nothing new, people headed to Twitter to compare Facebook's version of a cartoon mini-me to that of Snapchat and Apple — and not everyone is on board with the new Avatar.

One of the main issues users seemed to have with Avatars is that people don't seem to be creating their exact likenesses. (Although, it's not specifically an issue with the choices available.)

There are 27 skin tone options to choose from, 12 face shapes, 16 complexions (which includes beauty marks and freckles), and 15 "line" configurations for your face, but a few Facebook users didn't think the new feature was inclusive enough to truly express themselves.

However, some people applauded Facebook for offering a variety of different skin tones and other customizable features.

Several users mentioned they were very happy with the accuracy of their digital doppelgängers as well as the array of different emotions and expressions that you can use.

The jury is still out on whether the newest digital version of yourself reigns supreme, but you can always give it a try yourself to see what you think about the possibilities.

If you're ready to create a Facebook Avatar, you'll first want to go to the comment composer on Facebook. There, you'll want to select the smile emoji button, and then click on the sticker tab. Once you select "Create your Avatar," you'll be brought to a new page where you can customize a digital mini-me and, if you like the end result, share your creation with all of your friends.