Twitter announced today it was dropping the star on tweets — which saved it as a favorite when a user clicked it — in favor of hearts that signify “likes.”
“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 many things, but not everything can be your favorite,” Akarshan Kumar, a Twitter product manager, said in a blog post.
“The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones,” Akarshan Kumar, a product manager at Twitter, said in a statement. “The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with 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
According to Twitter, the new “heart” icon will be available on Twitter for iOS and Android, Twitter.com, TweetDeck, and the Vine Android app and website. The new icon will be coming soon to Vine for iOS and Twitter for Mac.
While the company said user testing proved that people love the new icons, the company’s users provided different feedback on social media Tuesday.