Twitter Ditching Stars Is All About Snagging New Users

Twitter just replaced its star icon with a heart button, and its users have plenty to say about the change.

Among the haters, jokesters, and armchair UX critics that commented on the switch, the most commonly echoed sentiment seemed to be: Twitter doesn’t get us. Right as Facebook announces that it will give users a broader palette for expressing themselves, Twitter decides to limit its user’s reactions to feel-good ones only.

Well, too bad, current Twitter users—this isn’t about you. It’s about future users. Akarshan Kumar, product manager at Twitter, said so explicitly in a blog post this morning: “We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.”