Twitter Inc has replaced its star-shaped favorite icon with a heart shaped icon called "like". This is the latest effort by the Twitter team to make Twitter more engaging and attractive.
Twitter had been experimenting a lot with hearts. It has been testing the transformation in two types: circled hearts or borderless hearts. The social networking began their experiments on Androids during the summer and then expanded the experimentation to iOS, according to Mashable.
Twitter copied this move due to its slow user growth from Facebook & YouTube-like features which engage millions of users in moments. Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook back in 2012 also consists of a heart-shaped icon which is used to like the pictures.
According to Twitter, the following change was made because the star was usually confusing to the newcomers, as reported by The Next Web. The heart seemed to be more familiar with similar meanings in different languages and cultures making it easier for people belonging from different regions of the world to understand Twitter with comfort.
James Cakmak, an analyst at Brokerage Monness said he thought Twitter was trying to make itself more consistent and engaging with experiences from other platforms. Many Twitter users scorned the change, and a hashtag called #WeWantFavButtonBack quickly appeared.
"Its not going to move the needle in any material way", says James talking about the company sincerity in bringing more engagement and user growth, as reported by Reuters.
Surprisingly contrary to Twitter team's thinking, people haven't liked this replacement much and are already demanding to replace the old star-shaped feature back.
Until Twitter turns back the old feature, you can still enjoy it with a chrome extension. Yes! you can.An interesting chrome extension, Fav Forever is developed by Product Hunt which is owned by a Brooklyn-based developer known as Reed Kavner. Once you install this extension, your twitter account will start showing favorite icon instead of the hated newly introduced like.
"I made a Chrome extension that brings stars back. It's all going to be okay. - Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) November 3, 2015
Description of the tool reads something like: "On November 3, 2015, the lives of millions of Twitter users were forever changed. Where yesterday there were stars, today there are hearts. Fav Forever brings the stars back."
There are still some limitations to the tool as its newly introduced and is still in the developmental stages. It doesn't change how your tweets appear outside Twitter.com and user profile page will still show a "like" button instead of the favorite icon. But for Twitter users who didn't like the new update of Twitter at all, this tool brings some relief.
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