As you’ll know if you’re a regular reader of our (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/dreamers-digital-digest-22/ text: digital digest) barely a week goes by without one of the major social networks launching a new feature/service or making a significant change. This week saw Twitter kill off the star-shaped ‘favourite’ button, replacing it with a heart-shaped ‘like’. A move that, so far, has not gone down well with Twitter’s users.
According to the leading micro-blogging site, the change is meant to make Twitter easier to use and more attractive to new users. But what, many have asked, about the old ones? What about those amongst the existing user base that use Twitter primarily for content discovery and have long used the ‘favourite’ button to bookmark interesting links, saving them for later? It may not feel quite right to ‘like’ something you haven’t yet read, or is interesting, but not something you’d endorse.
Many have also begrudged the forced positivity and commitment of a ‘like’. A favourite was gloriously ambiguous and could also be used for acknowledging a tweet, ending a conversation or instead of a retweet. As social media users, we’re used to ‘likes’ – Facebook introduced these in 2009 and they have since become a feature of other platforms including LinkedIn and YouTube. However with their new ‘Reactions’ feature, even Facebook is giving users a broader palette with which to express themselves.
The new ‘like’ button isn’t the only Facebook-esque tweak Twitter have made to their service lately: the ‘what’s happening?’ box on Twitter.com has now moved from the left hand side, between your profile box and list of trends to the top of the news feed. Aka, exactly the same location of Facebook’s ‘what’s on your mind?’ status question.
But it’s unfair to single Twitter out as a copycat, all the major social networks are at it, noting what works for others and evolving their own offers and UX in similar ways to enhance their platforms and attract new users and advertisers. In the last few weeks alone we’ve seen (link: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/11/01/instagram-wants-to-be-a-little-like-snapchat-with-new-explore-feature/ text: Instagram launch a new explore feature following Snapchat’s success with live stories) and (link: http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2015/10/27/facebook-message-requests-now-let-you-contact-anyone-even-if-youre-not-friends/ text: Facebook make it easier to communicate with people you’re not friends with). Facebook are also making further moves to challenge YouTube, (youtube: http://recode.net/2015/10/13/facebook-is-building-its-own-youtube-inside-facebook/ text: testing a ‘dedicated place’ on Facebook where users can go ‘when they exclusively want to watch video.’ )
However, do we really want the social media platforms we use to become too similar to one another? Whilst many of the major players would love to be able to successfully develop platforms that meet all of our social media needs, for use on a near-exclusive basis, is this what users really want?
Like many social media users, I use different social networks in different ways and for different things. And I like it this way. Whilst there will always be common features and service cross-overs, I hope that other social networks won’t make the same mistakes I believe Twitter has been making of late in its rush for growth.
I for one am sad to see many of the things that have historically differentiated Twitter from other social networks (and that attracted many users in the first place) gradually disappear. But the eternal optimist in me hopes that the next phase of Twitter will include such exciting new features and possibilities that recent losses will be forgotten. But for the time being – RIP the ‘favourite’, the un-curated newsfeed and ad and ‘like’-free zone of Twitter of old.