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Twitter users do not heart changing ‘favorite’ stars to ‘like’ hearts

The post Twitter swaps “favorites” for ‘likes, ‘ users do not heart decision appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

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Hearts are rolling out today to Twitter for iOS and Android, Twitter.com, TweetDeck, and Twitter for Windows 10, as well as the Vine Android app and website.

GREENE: There you have it. Newton explains that what made the favorite button special to him was that it could mean so many different things.

Twitter while announcing the change in its favourite system also claimed that the heart was more expressive and enabled users to convey a range of emotions.

Success of the heart icon on Periscope, which Twitter owns, influenced the move.

A few Twitter users have taken to the platform to air their distaste with the demise of the “fav”.

What do you think of Twitter’s new “likes” icon?

Whereas the Facebook’s “like” button was instantly iconic, Twitter’s ‘favorite’button has always been a bit problematic.

The design and name change might seem insignificant, but stars and favorites have been unique to the Twitter platform since its early days. “And in our tests, we found that people loved it”, said Akarshan Kumar, product manager at Twitter in a statement. Meanwhile, it will also be available on the Vine Android app. James Cakmak said that Twitter was trying to make more consistent its site with practice on other stage. Pentagram partner Natasha Jen said, “The heart is likely to trigger more social activities because its meaning (like) is well understood in society”.

The idea of replacing the star with a heart has been around months.

The change to heart-shaped Likes comes on the heels of Twitter’s new Moments feature, which make it easier for new users to find important conversations on the struggling social network.

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We asked you in a Twitter poll which do you prefer?

Stars no more: Twitter ditches stars, adds hearts for likes