Favourites – we use them for a myriad of reasons. Favouriting a tweet could mean “I like this tweet”, or “good point”, or “this is fun, but not enough to retweet”, or “I acknowledge your communication, but can’t be bothered to reply”, or “the conversation is ending now, but on a positive note!” Also, the favourite is a great bookmarking tool.
Now, however, Twitter has cruelly stripped away all of the above nuances of communication by replacing the favourite function with a “like” button. Unlike. How, now, is one supposed to bookmark an article on the refugee crisis without ‘liking’ it? I’m not ready to inaccurately look – ironically – heartless on social media.
In a press release, Twitter’s thinking is entirely wrongheaded. Hearts are, it says, “more expressive”. No, hearts aren’t, for reasons outlined above. Here is what they think a heart can mean…
JosephReidNZ 