Twitter has just replaced the star icon for favorite tweets with a heart. The social media giant is doing away with its star-shaped “favorite” button and replacing it with a heart-shaped “like” button. The new heart-shaped button is available starting Tuesday including on mobile apps and will be available on Twitter for Mac soon. The feature of Favorites has been existed since 2016 and will now be called “Likes.”
Why Twitter Heart?
The company said that the star icon was confusing for newcomers and users “might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.” Akarshan Kumar, a product manager at Twitter said,
“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,” he added.
Purpose of Heart Button
Twitter says that it tests showed that people loved the heart. But we are not sure if it is a right move. The star seems more neutral unlike the heart. Akin to favorites, heart buttons are used to show appreciation for a tweet.
Your likes are visible on the profile too and when these tweets are protected, the tweets that you liked won’t appear on the profile in the Likes tab. When you click or tap the new heart button, it will turn red, confirming that you have liked the tweet.
What about its appearance in Apps and Mac?
Twitter has another popular app called Vine which is used to post and share quick video clips. To complement the favorite change on Twitter, Vine will also get the new hearts. You can see heart buttons appearing on Twitter.com and the Android and iOS apps. They will shortly go live for Vine’s website and Android app and after that, will be expected to appear on Vine for iOS and Twitter for Mac.
Check out Twitter’s official blog post for more information.
Do you like Twitter heart button? Do you think they are a better way to express emotions about a tweet? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
