Twitter Rebrands 'Stars' & 'Favorites' to 'Hearts' & 'Likes'

[MacRumors]

Twitter today announced the impending rollout of a new "Hearts" and "Likes" system for its social network, which will replace the traditional "Stars" and "Favorites" that's been used on the service for the past few years. The company cites a "confusing" quality to the star system that causes a disconnect between a new Twitter user and anyone who favorites their tweet. The heart, it believes, is more of a universal symbol of expression and connection.

You can say a lot with a heart. Introducing a new way to show how you feel on Twitter: https://t.co/WKBEmORXNW pic.twitter.com/G4ZGe0rDTP - Twitter (@twitter) November 3, 2015

We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we'll be calling them likes. We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.

The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.

The hearts system will also make its way to the Twitter-owned Vine service, rounding out the social networks that the company owns -- including Periscope -- with a more uniform liking system. The company notes that the new update will roll out starting today on Twitter for iOS and Android, the web, Windows 10, TweetDeck, "and on Tweets across the Internet." Other services, like Twitter for Mac, will see support coming "soon."

Article Link: Twitter Rebrands 'Stars' & 'Favorites' to 'Hearts' & 'Likes'

 

[vmachiel]

... Jeej? I think. This is just the same features with different names and icons right?

 

[BJMRamage]

not sure if I like that post or want to fav it...

 

[the Otter]

So what do I do if I like something that’s not my favorite?

 

[EllieV]

So what do I do if I like something that’s not my favorite?

That's the whole point! Now it's not that you have thousands of things that are your favorite, just a whole ton of things you like!

 

[Mums]

I'm glad. Now I can collect worthless likes on twitter like I do on Facebook.

 

[Lexdexia]

If only there was a easier way to search all the thousands of hearts and likes, just incase I want to revisit something...

 

[adamjackson]

The Twitter Favorite made a lot of sense. I would favorite things that were really interesting like a friend's marriage announcement or something I myself tweeted that I may want to look back on in a few years without having to scroll endlessly. I also favorited articles I wanted to read later or maybe link to at a later date once I did read.

The heart seems like a Facebook / Instagram thing for teens who understand hearts are just emojis. The only time I've ever seen a heart emoji is when my sister texts me and she's 14. The star made sense. The heart is just useless. Even if it works the same as favorites did today, that doesn't mean it'll work that way 5 years from now when the only way to save a tweet will be to actually favorite it in Safari as a saved URL.

They're killing a feature that a lot of people used.

 

[ignatius345]

The thing that made Twitter good was its simplicity. They keep larding on more and more crap, its edging toward being Facebook Lite.

 

[Brutonus]

There goes the identity of Twitter.

 

[unother]

There goes the identity of Twitter.

I think this is the point — Twitter's current identity is killing it.

 

[Cougarcat]

Couldn't care less. I mainly used the feature occasionally to save links for later, and there are better ways to do that anyway.

The thing that made Twitter good was its simplicity. They keep larding on more and more crap, its edging toward being Facebook Lite.

This is just a "rebrand" of an existing feature, so I don't see how it increases complexity.

 

[arcite]

Of course, as we are the product, Twitter will sell your 'likes' and preferences to advertisers. I use twitter, but never comment or 'like' star, or otherwise.

Don't become the product!

 

[0098386]

The Twitter Favorite made a lot of sense. I would favorite things that were really interesting like a friend's marriage announcement or something I myself tweeted that I may want to look back on in a few years without having to scroll endlessly. I also favorited articles I wanted to read later or maybe link to at a later date once I did read.

The heart seems like a Facebook / Instagram thing for teens who understand hearts are just emojis. The only time I've ever seen a heart emoji is when my sister texts me and she's 14. The star made sense. The heart is just useless. Even if it works the same as favorites did today, that doesn't mean it'll work that way 5 years from now when the only way to save a tweet will be to actually favorite it in Safari as a saved URL.

They're killing a feature that a lot of people used.

Honestly can't tell if this is a parody post.

Just in case it isn't; they've replaced a yellow star icon with a red heart icon. No feature has been killed.

 

[nfortna]

I feel like social networks think we're idiots that get confused by different shapes

 

[Smith288]

I feel like social networks think we're idiots that get confused by different shapes

Product development has a large focus on "develop to the lowest denominator". So you are correct.

 

[Porco]

I find their logo really confusing. Is it a bird? Is it a curvy plane? Is it Superman eating a couple of pieces of toast on his way to work ? I don't know. They should replace it with the silhouette of a spoon or something, which would be more of a universal symbol of expression and connection. Everyone gets what a spoon is all about.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Heart conveys "love" rather than "like".

Need a different symbol, like a smiley or a thumbs up, to convey a "like".

 

[nutmac]

Don't copy Facebook. Favorite should've been renamed as Save or Bookmark. If anything, retweet suggests "like" more than favorite.

 

[charlituna]

I would much rather they did something about the annoying way that Periscope videos get all covered up by comments etc than worry about whether it should be like or fav or save or promote or whatever.

 

[brentsg]

It's just a bookmark for me. I don't necessarily like or love any of it, so I definitely prefer a star.

 

[John.B]

My to-do for this evening: "Unheart" all my former "Favorited" tweets. <sigh>

 

[milo]

The thing that made Twitter good was its simplicity. They keep larding on more and more crap, its edging toward being Facebook Lite.

Not sure if you're kidding. They didn't change or add any functionality, just rename and swap a different icon.

 

[ignatius345]

Not sure if you're kidding. They didn't change or add any functionality, just rename and swap a different icon.

Right, but it's a dumb and arbitrary change just to get press. And look back over the last 6-12 months: photos visible in the timeline, polls, engagement stats, "Tweets you missed", more elaborate DMs... Like I said, they're adding crap constantly.