Twitter dropped a bomb on users earlier today, when the microblogging service ditched its iconic star-shaped ‘favorite’ button for a heart-shaped ‘like’ button—sending the Internet spiraling into total chaos (for a few hours).
The company said in a blog post that the shift away from ‘favorites’ to ‘likes’ was designed to promote “a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures and time zones.”
“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.”
The button was a jarring change for the social media platform, which has made a spate of recent moves to attract new users amid investor concerns over growth. But more importantly, the new button failed to win the hearts of journalists, celebrities and brands—all of whom took to Twitter to post their thoughts:
.@twitter Hearts? You guys suffer from worst case of corporate ADHD ever. Stop! Please! And bring back "People I Follow" while you're at it
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/661578296161800192
I'm actually sad to see the "heart" feature on the mobile app. I'd hate to see Twitter start to lose its essence. I hope this is temporary.
— deray (@deray) November 3, 2015
Stars are now hearts on @twitter?! We feel emotions are best expressed through all the charms. pic.twitter.com/m1YoFB87Th
— Lucky Charms (@LuckyCharms) November 3, 2015
RIP to the Twitter favorite button… pic.twitter.com/SZiwrAGjXy
— The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/jeffbercovici/status/661571043123834881
THE YEAR 2043
"Daddy, how did the war start?"
"Well, my mutant son, a long time ago Twitter changed fav stars to fav hearts."— David Weigel (@daveweigel) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/arthur_affect/status/661622121030782976
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
Also, idk, maybe a platform that has trouble with men harassing women shouldn't make it easier for them to send us hearts, can be creepy.
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) November 3, 2015
Wall Street was also not feeling the love, sending Twitter’s share price down slightly from the previous close.