There is a new thing on Twitter and Vine today. If you have
accessed it, you might be surprised with the presence of the heart symbol next
to the retweet feature. Yes, Twitter and Vine from now no longer use the term
of 'Favorite' which was symbolized by star symbol.
This heart symbol is called ‘Like’. According to the
official explanation, the star symbol had made a lot of new comers on Twitter
feel confused. It's also explained that we might like many Tweets, but
certainly not all of them deserve to be Favorites.
On the other hand, the heart symbol is chosen because it is
often considered as a universal symbol that has no boundaries of language,
culture and time zone. The heart symbol is considered more expressive than the
star in showing emotion toward a Tweet.
This is actually not the first time for twitter to choose ‘Like’
rather than ‘Favorite’. In Periscope - although it is the result of acquisition
- users have been familiar with the term of ‘Like’ and heart symbol. Therefore,
bringing it to Twitter and Vine will not seem so strange.
This heart symbol has been available and can be seen in the
Twitter app for iOS, Android, and Windows 10, Tweetdeck, Vine for Android and
of course on the web. While Vine for iOS and Twitter for Mac will soon follow.