He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me! This is the world in which we live now that Twitter chucked the lovable, friendly and not-too-committal favoriting star out the window and replaced it with, you guessed it, a lousy heart.
What are we? Teenage girls dotting our i's with hearts? A heart is a big commitment. Do you really love, I mean LOVE, that tweet about Starbucks selling alcohol in Dallas? Mike Wilson, editor of The Dallas Morning News, was not so sure he did:
@sblaskovich @AviAdelman @GuideLive @Starbucks On the new Twitter, how do I say I appreciate this response without saying I love it?
— Mike Wilson (@mWilstory) November 3, 2015
Most are not looking to take a tweet out for dinner and movie. Sure, you might want to send some love to someone who got a new job, or is publicly sharing that they are having a child or getting married. We get that. But that's why you can heart their Instagram post about the same subject. Face it, we live in 2015 and we are going to announce major life events on every social media platform. You will have a chance to show that you too care about your Internet friends.
The favoriting star was nondescript. It was noncommittal. You could favorite something that you don't necessarily agree with but just wanted to show your passing acknowledgement.
Twitter contends that you can share all of these emotions and more with a heart.
You can say a lot with a heart. Introducing a new way to show how you feel on Twitter: https://t.co/WKBEmORXNW pic.twitter.com/G4ZGe0rDTP
— Twitter (@Twitter) November 3, 2015
To make matters worse, Twitter says in their press release that favorites are no more. The hearts are "likes" just like Facebook. The company says that it is to make Twitter easier for newcomers — something they have been focusing on lately. You may remember a time when you Twitter page had a background design to express your individuality; then *poof * it was gone.
Twitter says in the release that "you might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite ... 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."
Do you think that the Egyptians went around changing the meaning of the hieroglyphics to match user testing?
Many disagree that the heart is more expressive. Heart iconography pretty clearly signifies love. How much you love something comes in shades of reds and pinks, but it is still more than liking something.
I work at @twitter but even I can’t believe how we replaced a completely value-neutral term like “favorite” with something so loaded.
— Peter Seibel (@peterseibel) November 3, 2015
I used to hit "Star" on @twitter for stuff I disagreed w but acknowledged. Now I should "heart" those tweets? Another nuance dies.
— Steven Levy (@StevenLevy) November 3, 2015
WHY IS THE STAR NOW A HEART? THAT IS ICKY BEYOND BELIEF. IT IS TWITTER TRYING TO BE, YECH, FACEBOOK.
— Gene Weingarten (@geneweingarten) November 3, 2015
This heart thing w/ Twitter is very bad. It is like when Coke gave up in the Cola Wars. The whole POINT of Twitter is that it has no heart.
— Gene Weingarten (@geneweingarten) November 3, 2015
Twitter is trying to make me love things with this stupid new heart but I don't have a soul. Please put it back to giving one star reviews.
— Ali Spagnola (@alispagnola) November 3, 2015
Twitter needs to delete the heart option and add the spleen. Make it happen.
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) November 3, 2015
Our grandparents didn't storm the beaches of Normandy to see the twitter star become a heart.
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 3, 2015
Twitter went to a heart because "a gold star could be confusing to new users".
— PeytonsHead (Retired) (@BigHeadBS) November 3, 2015
My teacher never put a heart on my homework. #JustSaying
However, Southwest Airlines appears to be a fan:
We'll miss the favorite star, but have to say we are partial to the Heart! 💙💛❤️ https://t.co/RjFwwORvyx
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) November 3, 2015
For those of you who are upset, I know these are difficult times. Don't worry, Gizmodo wrote up a way for you to change the heart to any emoji of your choice. Poop emoji, sure. Eggplant? You betcha!
