Twitter is killing off 'favorites' and instead wants you to 'like' tweets with hearts

REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Previously, Twitter let users show they enjoyed a tweet by selecting a star icon. But that's all changing today. Now, you show you liked a tweet by tapping a heart.
Twitter has been testing out this feature for months. Back in June some users of Twitter's Android and iOS apps spotted that it had changed the star icon to a heart. Twitter confirmed at the time that it was only running an experiment.
NEW TWITTER ICONS. MIXED FEELINGS. pic.twitter.com/UgpFBNETxA
- Daniel Singer (@danielsing3r) July 28, 2015
But now it's official: Favorites are now likes, and stars are now hearts, according to an emailed press release. The change is going to be rolled out in the Twitter app, on the Twitter website, and also on TweetDeck.
In the press release, Twitter says a heart is a "universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones." Twitter says a heart is "more expressive" than a favorite, as the graphic below, which shows what the hearts will look like, attempts to indicate:

Twitter is also going to update the Vine app to unify the way likes look. Right now when you like a Vine video you hit a smiley face. But Twitter says that's going to change to a heart, just like the Twitter app. That's going to bring Twitter and Vine in line with video-streaming app Periscope, which uses hearts to show how much people like different streams.
A teacher who quit and took a job at Costco says life is much better now — she has a life, can pay her bills and finally sleeps at night
Gautam Adani takes the high road and calls off Adani Enterprises FPO after a 28% crash in stock price
It's been a very bad month for Indian billionaires — four of the richest Indians have collectively lost about $45 billion in 2023
Samsung to manufacture premium Galaxy S23 smartphones in India
Samsung launches four new laptops in the Galaxy Book3 series with a bigger display and new processor
Social isolation linked to dementia risk factors says a study in Canada
Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra priced starting at ₹74,999 in India
Adani Group-owned Ambuja Cements, ACC clarify their shares not pledged by promoters