Twitter’s makeover continues with new names for Stars and Favorites
Say goodbye to Stars and Favorites and hello Hearts and Likes. Social networking giant Twitter is continuing its makeover to appeal to new users by revamping one of the mainstays of the service.
So long stars
If you weren’t aware, the star icon previously indicated that a tweet was selected as a favorite by a user. That has now changed with the heart taking the place of the star. The action itself has been renamed Like.
In a blog post, Twitter explained some of the reasoning behind the interesting decision:
We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.
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. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.
You can find the Hearts on the official Twitter iOS app starting today. It will also arrive on Vine for iOS and Twitter for the Mac “soon.” Popular third-party Twitter clients, like the recently updated Tweetbot and Twitterrific, need to be updated to show the new system.
Twitter’s Periscope app first featured the Hearts system.
Twitter-owned Periscope was the first to feature the Hearts system.
A new direction for Twitter?
It’s been a bumpy year for Twitter as the social network has been trying to improve its standing on Wall Street with better growth numbers. With co-founder Jack Dorsey taking the reins once again as CEO, the company has been seriously considering major changes like ditching the iconic 140-character limit for tweets.
And back in October, Twitter unveiled the important Moment functionality that features a group of tweets centered around a specific event or topic.
Today’s announcement hasn’t exactly been well received by current Twitter users, and it will be interesting to see if it can help the company get back on track.
For other news today, see: Top Charts have arrived on the Apple TV, with games dominating, Get endless, cosmic, arcade action in a Starific new game, and Get the latest news on Apple TV with Haystack TV.
