What a curious case this is.

This week, many LinkedIn users have reported that the ‘curious’ emoji reaction has gone missing from the app, with the reactions set now back to just six options.

After the addition of its ‘funny’ reaction back in June, LinkedIn was up to seven quick reactions available on each post, but now, the ‘curious’ response seems to have been depreciated in the latest app update.

Why would that be?

Well, you would assume that it likely comes down to lack of use. But LinkedIn hasn’t provided any official confirmation either way, so we don’t really know whether it’s actually been removed, or it’s just an accident, a glitch, etc.

But it does seem like the curious response has gone away.

Is that a big deal? No, probably not, and again, if LinkedIn has removed it, it likely wasn’t seeing much usage anyway, so probably no major loss. But it’s curious, either way.

We’ve asked LinkedIn for more info, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

UPDATE (3/9): SMT reader Julian Dawkins has provided some more insight on the removal of the Curious reaction, based on a recent exchange with LinkedIn.

As per LinkedIn's explanation to Julian:

“In a recent survey, we heard that members and creators typically find the Curious reaction to be a confusing signal to interpret, given there is a wide range if interpretations. As such, members and creators said they don’t derive value from using of receiving this reaction.”

As a result, LinkedIn says that it has removed the Curious reaction, with no plans to reinstate it in future.

So there’s your answer – a curiosity no more.