Last week, Twitter made a huge change on its site that saw the introduction of the ‘Like’/‘heart’ button to replace the ‘favorite’ button. For some people, this was a bad move for Twitter and for some it was welcomed.
The reason why some people did not see it as a good move is because they were more or less used to the favorite button and have come to associate it with Twitter and changing that changes everything about the social networking site.
Well, it seems that most people are in love with the ‘like’ button according to Kevin Weil who is the Senior Vice President of Product at Twitter. He revealed that with the new ‘heart’ button, more and more people are ‘liking’ tweets than before. He said that this new feature has led to six percent increase in interaction.
According to Weil, the ‘like’ button is very popular because “It’s easier to understand” given that Facebook has been using it for a while. Facebook is the most popular social networking site out there in terms of numbers and this makes perfect sense for Twitter to borrow something from it.
According to Product Manager Akarshan Kumar, changing the symbol was necessary. He said, “We know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. The heart … is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones.”
Do you still hate the new symbol? You can go back to the old version if you like…