Twitter has changed the way it looks when users ‘favourite’ a post – so they are now seeing hearts instead of stars. 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 Hitting the heart button will now […]
Twitter has changed the way it looks when users ‘favourite’ a post – so they are now seeing hearts instead of stars.
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
Hitting the heart button will now be classed as a “like” in the style of Facebook.
Twitter said in a blog post that it decided to go with the heart because it is a “universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones.” Twitter even went so far as to say that in their tests “people loved it.”
However, the replacement the star icon sent its most ardent users into a thumbs down frenzy, with some high profile Twitter users arguing that hearts were an inappropriate symbol.
Yep. Hearts on horrible news items feels really off. pic.twitter.com/CwtdbgIEp6
— rob manuel (@robmanuel) November 10, 2015
The favorite function has been fundamental to the Twitter experience, as one of just three ways for users to respond to a tweet.
The heart symbol has more positive ‘love’ connotations than a star, meaning peop,le might be less likely to ‘love’ a serious news story about a tragic event- for example.
Thousands of tweets have surfaced on Twitter with rebellious hashtags such as #hatetheheart, #bringbackthestar and #heartgate.
Twitter was made for retweeting and FAVORITING tweets. NOT liking them. This isn't Instagram or Facebook. #hatetheheart
— ʝα¢qυιє✌️ (@jacquie_prigg) November 3, 2015
Read the blog announcement here: https://blog.twitter.com/2015/hearts-on-twitter
