Last November 3 netizens were agog that upon login, instead of the star icon for Favorites their other option aside from ReTweet is the Twitter hearts which is now called likes.
What could be the reason behind this change?
According to Twitter’s Official Announcement, the change was brought by the fact that they want to make Twitter easier to navigate especially to newcomers.
This is the excerpt of their official announcement:
“We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we’ll be calling them 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 a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.”
#Cartoon for the weekend about Twitter #hearts “That’s no star” http://pic.twitter.com/AlumnFeV4i
— Andrew Fraser (@cartoonsidrew) November 6, 2015
This move is just one of the efforts that the management of Twitter thinks they need to do in order for them to recapture a bigger percentage of the market share in this continuous battle among social networks. All throughout summer, Twitter has been testing the hearts icon, and this has been widely received which prompted them to roll out the change weeks after they officially launched Twitter Polls.
The icon change is not only limited to Twitter but to its sister company, Vine, as well. The change did not come abruptly. The heart is considered as the universal icon that conveys a lot of positive emotions which makes it easier to connect with other people.
However, Twitter’s numerous influencers do not seem to share their sentiment regarding this change. Still in the early stages of its implementation, the power users are very vocal about their dislike of the heart icon.
The normal question when such change happens is: will this affect your marketing? Will getting a heart instead of a star affect your sales conversion via Twitter?
Most social media accounts already have the Like button- Facebook has it. Pinterest has it. Even Instagram has it and a whole other bunch of social platforms. The Like button is popularized by Facebook while Instagram has dibs on the heart icon.
Listed below are just some points that active Twitter users have for the Twitter heart that most likely will cause some changes in how you do business using this platform.
In all this twitter hearts brouhaha, @rstevens comes out the winner. https://t.co/cYn0OLD20C http://pic.twitter.com/f8gsMe6X3D
— Jon Rosenberg™ (@jonrosenberg) November 4, 2015
The favorite button on Twitter makes them unique. There are also a lot of people who use the Fav button as a bookmark and despite its rather positive meaning, clicking the favorite button doesn’t always mean it’s a positive idea. It could mean that you find the tweet interesting and would love to get back to it at a later time when you are not pressed for time. The star icon is pretty much generic. It doesn’t involve a lot of feelings so by “favoriting” a tweet, it could either mean you like or dislike it. And most people would not think twice of using it as some sort of acknowledgment.
In fact, many active users like journalists use the star icon to bookmark negative comments they get as well or use it to reference breaking news that they can use for their own reporting. According to the article, The 25 Distinct Reasons People Favorite Things in Twitter, Twitter users use the star icon because the topic is relevant, they find your tweet funny or they can relate to it among other things.
If you base it on public opinion during this early stage of implementation, the Twitter heart may have repercussions for your business simply because people who live, eat and breathe the internet are always resistant to change. What Twitter is currently experiencing right now is what Facebook felt when they first introduced Messenger several years ago or when they had theI feel fat emoji that they have to take out due to public outcry.
Perhaps Emily Bell of The Guardian said it best that the design change from the star icon to the heart is minor. The actual change can be felt on what the star icon represented. It limits the actions one can do on Twitter. Sure, you can like tweets that warm the hearts but you just don’t click the heart button when you hear about the latest disaster news or political scandal. It simply isn’t done.
So, when it comes to marketing, there’s a chance user engagement will lessen until users have become comfortable clicking a heart instead of a star. Or if Twitter gives in to the public sentiment and reverts to favorite. Because people normally do not like tweets they haven’t had the chance to check out, so the possibility of people not clicking the heart icon on your tweet is rather high.
The heart icon, on the other hand, is so full of emotion frequently associated with love and happiness. If you would like to acknowledge a person that you have read their tweet, you will think twice of clicking the like button because it evokes strong positive emotion that would just not work well with people other than your family and friends.
Also, a like is similarly close to an endorsement, and this is something people with a considerable following would tend to use this icon sparingly. People might be compelled to do something just because they mistakenly assume that these influencers have endorsed the tweet simply by liking it.
This backlash on the Twitter heart could just be a temporary setback. It’s just been a week since it has been rolled out so its effect can’t be measured yet for the long term. Twitter is just one platform for your social media marketing, so if you see a downward trend with regards to engagement, it should not be that critical to your overall promotions. However, it is important to note that you still need to continue using Twitter as it is still one of the biggest social media platforms there is.
And here are some just for laugh tweets regarding Twitter hearts:
No comments:
Post a Comment