Twitter replaces stars with hearts, Favs are now Likes
Twitter has finally done it. They've made the change that many have been expecting for some now. The star icon for favoriting something is out, and now the social network is all about hearts. Because hearts are in. To really emphasize the change, the action is not even called "favorites" anymore, but is instead the universal "likes" from now on. In a blog post, Twitter says the change is going into effect from today on both Twitter and Vine.
The social network explains that the idea behind the switch in iconography and naming as being less confusing for new users, as "you might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite." The logic is that the heart is more of a universal symbol that can be recognized across languages and cultures, whereas the star can mean different things to different people.
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
Twitter has actually been testing the different buttons and phrasing since June, and says that the heart has been very popular. It also notes that Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, has been using hearts for some time now, with users "embracing" them.
Hearts/likes are rolling out starting today on twitter.com, the Twitter apps for iOS, Android, Windows 10, Tweetdeck, and embedded tweets on the web. Vine for Android and on the website will also have hearts from today, while Vine for iOS and Twitter for OS X will be updated soon.
SOURCE Twitter