Your fave is officially old news.
On Tuesday, the social network put one of its most iconic features to rest: the favorite button. The little gold star that we once clicked to flirt, passive-aggresively blow people off, and show our amusement, support and agreement with other users’ tweets has now been replaced by a heart, or a “like.”
You can say a lot with a heart. Introducing a new way to show how you feel on Twitter: https://t.co/WKBEmORXNW pic.twitter.com/G4ZGe0rDTP
— Twitter (@twitter) November 3, 2015
Twitter explained yesterday that the move came as a result of the company making plans to make the site simpler to use.
“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,” wrote product manager Akarshan Kumar in a blog post. “You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.”
This is just one of the many changes that Jack Dorsey has added since being reinstated as CEO of the company last month. In addition to adding the “Moments” tab that helps users follow trending stories, it was just announced last month that the social network may be undergoing changes that will allow for users to tweet past the 140-character count.
We’ll admit it—The favorite button probably was a little confusing to some users. When a tweet that’s offensive or in poor taste goes viral, it can be pretty hard to distinguish which people favorited the tweet because they agree with the message or just to save it to their archives. The same can be said for tweets detailing negative news. Whatever the case, the company is now embracing the change.
“The heart…is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures and time zones,” Kumar wrote. “The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.”
Not surprisingly, many Twitter users had a bit of a meltdown.
Heart does not equal… pic.twitter.com/pYYcKYySev
— Logan Rhoades (@LoganRhoades) November 3, 2015
A favorite is many things, but it is most certainly not a like. This is the worst thing a tech company has done since the last awful thing.
— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) November 3, 2015
Others reacted to the change with humor.
this heart thing is unfair to those of us who are dead inside
— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) November 3, 2015
Sounds like twitter finally saw the (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) fault in our stars
— Elise Foley (@elisefoley) November 3, 2015
R.I.P favorites. Excuse us while we spend the rest of this day mourning while listening to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”