Twitter May Soon Remove 'Likes' in Ongoing Effort to Promote Healthy Conversations

[MacRumors]

Twitter is reportedly planning to remove "likes" from the social media platform as its CEO Jack Dorsey told employees at an in-house event last week that he was "not a fan of the heart-shaped button," and that it would be eliminated "soon" (via Variety). In a Tweet, the Twitter Communications team said it is "rethinking everything" about the platform to incentivize healthy conversation, neither confirming nor denying the rumor.

The removal of the like button is said to be aimed at improving the quality of debate on Twitter, preventing people from showing favoritism in a tweet thread by liking the comments they agree with. Everything else in terms of tweet interaction appears to be staying intact, however, so users can expect retweets and replies to look the same as they currently do if the like button disappears.

It has now been three years since Twitter first rebranded "stars" and "favorites" to "hearts" and "likes." At the time, the company said that the original star system was "confusing" for new users and that hearts would be more straightforward. Since then, Twitter has come under fire for its lax responses to certain user harassment claims and safety practices in its tweet threads, leading to privacy updates and reporting features.

More recently, the company confirmed that it will bring back the classic reverse chronological timeline as an option for users. Over the years, Twitter has introduced a curated timeline that mixes in ads, Tweets liked by friends, follower recommendations, and more, instead of the original and simple reverse chronological list of tweets. The return of the reverse chronological timeline will kick off as a test for some users this fall.

Article Link: Twitter May Soon Remove 'Likes' in Ongoing Effort to Promote Healthy Conversations

 

[FelixDerKater]

How about dislikes?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

I can think of another website which should probably do the same. The irony here is I will probably receive likes for this.
[doublepost=1540826406][/doublepost]

How about dislikes?

Same thing.

 

[sracer]

How about dislikes?

Psychologically, that is a turn off. That is why neither Facebook nor Twitter (or even MacRumors) have "dislike" or thumbs-down capabilities.

There is a real opportunity to ENHANCE upvote/downvote capabilities on social media but that won't generate additional revenue and so it won't be implemented.

 

[JoEw]

This seems like a big step backward in terms of interaction with the timeline.

 

[twocents]

If what you are arguing or posting is valid, then by all means it deserves the likes or thumbs up or hearts galore. Removing the upvotes only puts everyone on an even platform, regardless of the content they choose to share or spew

 

[lunarworks]

Yup. That's gonna fix it.

 

[5105973]

Celebrities’ heads will explode.

 

[jona2125]

I will never understand how you can expect “healthy conversation” in an open forum.

 

[Cole Slaw]

If what you are arguing or posting is valid, then by all means it deserves the likes or thumbs up or hearts galore. Removing the upvotes only puts everyone on an even platform, regardless of the content they choose to share or spew

You have to remember that thanks to the modern educational system we're all winners and all deserve a trophy.
If you get upvotes and I don't it'll make me feel very inadequate and hurt my feelings.
This way (no up or downvotes) we're all equal.
See?

 

[Valbunny]

I personally don’t use Twitter. But this is great, in my opinion likes/dislikes in general, just creates cancer more often than not. (Reddit)

 

[centauratlas]

I can think of another website which should probably do the same. The irony here is I will probably receive likes for this.
[doublepost=1540826406][/doublepost]
Same thing.

I'd have voted with a "laugh" vs a like for this one!

Likes are good but maybe they should be changed to "agree" or "correct" or "thanks" instead of like. There are plenty of times on MR that I see a post that is useful in providing information that I'd say "thanks" or "correct" to.

 

[Blakjack]

No, no, no.....I hate this idea. It was bad enough when Macrumors got rid of the dislike button.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Some people liked mean things so now no one can like anything? The same logic would remove the reply button and even the tweet button.

 

[sracer]

I will never understand how you can expect “healthy conversation” in an open forum.

Sounds like you haven't experienced that. I'm a long-standing member on a few fora... 18+ years on one of them. There are plenty of places on the internet where considerate people congregate. We can talk about anything and everything without disrespecting and insulting other members. On those sites, I get along better with those members than with members of my extended family.

 

[jarman92]

Are Facebook and Twitter competing to be the most unscrupulous and tone-deaf company on the planet? Sure seems like it. They should probably focus on removing literal Nazis and credible threats of violence from their platform instead of stupid **** like this.

 

[aaronhead14]

Ummm likes aren't the problem with Twitter... lol

 

[AgustoPinochet]

I moved to Gab.com because twitter kept censoring free speech. Now gab is being shutdown, I'm off to minds now.

Twitter curates their "trending" list and artificially silences users with opinions they don't agree with, it's completely biased and anti-free speech. Removing the like button is just the next step in making twitter more of tool to guide public opinion to that of what the shareholders want rather than true organic debate (the last thing they want).

 

[augustrushrox]

Ummm likes aren't the problem with Twitter... lol

Twitter is the problem with Twitter.

 

[velocityg4]

Psychologically, that is a turn off. That is why neither Facebook nor Twitter (or even MacRumors) have "dislike" or thumbs-down capabilities.

There is a real opportunity to ENHANCE upvote/downvote capabilities on social media but that won't generate additional revenue and so it won't be implemented.

Funny thing is one of my favorite forums uses up votes and down votes. Conversations are much more civil and on topic. Rather than showing them separately. It is an overall tally. If someones comments hit an overall -5 they are automatically hidden. So, anyone spewing nonsensical rhetoric, &c. Get wiped away from view. But you have the option to expand and view the comment if so desired.

Just think of here. All the constant trolling, Apple bashing comments, what would Steve Jobs do or complaints about products which have nothing to do with an article would disappear. Like an iPhone rumor article then people complaining about the lack of updated Macs would be down voted into oblivion or Tim Cook doing something on his free time filled with complaints about lack of focus on the Mac. I like MacRumors but it gets very negative. Perhaps it is nostalgia but I remember it being much more civil and enthusiast filled ten to fifteen years ago.

Down votes might actually help with Twitter and Facebook civility. Then people might see that their vile comment which gets 100 likes actually gets 10,000 dislikes or their comments are hidden from the conversation unless someone chooses to expand it. At any rate it might encourage at least some to keep a civil tongue. Especially if friends, family, colleagues and those they admire down vote them.

Unfortunately, there is also the issue of what is being down voted. If some article about a horrible event is linked. Are people down voting your comment or the tragedy?

 

[RightMACatU]

Hey! Talk to Apple. They know a few things about removing features people actually use

 

[macduke]

Pick one:

• High level of engagement with a broad audience
  
• A healthy conversation

You can't have both.

 

[HEK]

Some people liked mean things so now no one can like anything? The same logic would remove the reply button and even the tweet button.

Hey..... you might be on to something.

 

[C DM]

Twitter is the problem with Twitter.

Ummm likes aren't the problem with Twitter... lol

It's more along the lines of simply "people".

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Psychologically, that is a turn off. That is why neither Facebook nor Twitter (or even MacRumors) have "dislike" or thumbs-down capabilities.

There is a real opportunity to ENHANCE upvote/downvote capabilities on social media but that won't generate additional revenue and so it won't be implemented.

Actually, MacRumor's used to have a downvote function in the javascript. It wasn't exposed through the UI, but you could pull up a web debugger and downvote comments. I know because I used to do it. Haven't checked if it's still there in awhile.