In school, a gold star meant that you'd spelled "cat" correctly; hearts were for doodling in your notebook surrounding your crush's name. On Twitter, there's the "favorite" star; on Tumblr, there's the "like" heart. Different symbols for different moments... So did you guys, uh, notice anything different this morning? Like how, oh, I don't know, Twitter just changed favorites to likes? The world may never be the same. Hold onto your hats, everyone.
According to Twitter's blog, the choice to move from stars to hearts was to streamline the process of agreeing with something, or someone, online. "The heart is more expressive," wrote Akarshan Kumar, Product Manager at Twitter, "enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people." Twitter's main argument is that "favorite" seems too exclusive a term for how the star icon was being used. A "like" heart, on the other hand, opened the door to more interactions online. Seems perhaps a little oddly poetic for a tiny digital heart icon, which already exists on a number of different social media platforms, but hey, it works.
Now, I'll be honest: I'm not the biggest Twitter user. I use it mostly like a spooky ghost would, floating in and out of conversations, seeking out bits of news. As such, I'm not as opinionated about it as some are.
But because this is Twitter, many people had a lot to say about it. And despite the fact that now when you click the "heart" icon, it explodes into a pink version of itself (a very cute move, IMHO), a number of users are not as impressed.
I was so perplexed. Why would a heart icon ruin relationships? Why the the intense backlash? And then I realized that at least some of the grumblings, though of course not all of them, were for a very specific reason:
And then, I said, let the heart reign. Let it rule. Long live the heart.
Images: Giphy (2)
