The Twitter Like Button
Many people think Twitter is hard. They don't get it unless they tweet all the time. But having a like button on Twitter made it easier. Consequently, people felt like they were on the familiar Facebook platform.
Surely, they could easily like a tweet. Some didn't have to reply or respond to anyone. Other's didn't have to engage on Twitter. Most could just read and like some of the tweets that they really liked.
As can be seen, the like button is made of a heart on Twitter. It symbolizes love, but active users know it's a like button. They can easily give approval to a tweet with the push of one button.
How We Use the Twitter Like Button
Often, we use the like button there to approve of someone re-tweeting us. It saves us time from having to thank them.
Oftentimes, users use the like button to approve of their friends' tweets. Sometimes, it is to like a special quote that goes by on their Twitter stream. The like button used to be a favorite button that was a star shaped button under tweets. Hence, Twitter changed it back in 2016 to the like button with a heart. ♥
Engagement Gets Lost With The Twitter Like Button
But using the like button makes it less engaging. It is similiar to the like button on Facebook.
And that's where the like button went astray.
Founder Jack Dorsey understands the value of engagement on Twitter. It's what keeps us all coming back day after day, hour after hour. on Twitter
I love the quick conversations we can have there. Don't you?
But Do Likes on Twitter Count for Something?
Today, the more likes you get on Twitter the more your tweet is shown in the algorithm. Each tweet has a counter as well under it with the number of likes it has received. If that like button goes away, do the counts we had also go away? Therefore, does that change how our tweets show up in the algorithm too?
There are many unanswered questions about the Twitter like button than there are answers right now. It will be interesting to see if they go ahead with this possible change.
In the past Twitter has made changes and then reverted when they got bombarded with a backlash from their users. Social Media Today reported recently that since Twitter increased their character count a while back users were upset. Since then, Twitter users have calmed down. As a result, many Twitter users did NOT increase their character count. Abbreviations have been less used on Twitter though with this character count switch.
What was also interesting from the research on Twitter character count is that people got friendlier. They are saying thank you and please more often on Twitter. 😊 I bet you haven't heard that in the mainstream news about Twitter?
Twitter is For Conversations
Twitter was really made for conversations when it first came out back in 2006. Back then, Twitter was meant for short messaging. It was like texting is today. That is how Jack started Twitter back in the day. Before all the marketers and politicians came on board to tweet. I bet they never imagined where it would all go today with 25 offices around the world.
In fact, the thing I find so different about Twitter is that you can meet people there. It's like being at a networking event. With Facebook you know them first.
For this reason, Twitter is where you get to meet other people. No obligations - no formalities. You can just tweet to them. They may or may not respond. It's up to them. But once you begin to have a conversation you can decide whether to continue to or not, day after day or sometimes months later.
It's not like Facebook where as if you don't engage with someone you won't see their posts. With Twitter if they are on lists you can easily find their posts or if not, they can still be in your stream. Unless of course you mute them. 😊
Would Re-Tweets Count More Without the Twitter Like Button?
Therefore, the only thing left would be counting re-tweets for those concerned about keeping score on Twitter. Other than that, without the verified approval process available there would be no way to know someone's Twitter value. It would only be based on retweets and the number of followers someone has.
Finally, maybe the best thing for Twitter would be to have nothing count. No follower count, no retweet count. Just pure conversations of people going back and forth discussing issues of the day. In other words, imagine a place where you just meet and chat with others online?
What Others Are Saying About The Twitter Like Button
Maybe when the like button goes away we can all just comment "like" instead 😂
Honestly though for people like me who don't have that many followers the#likebutton is sometimes the only way I know I'm not just tweeting into the void.- Kelley Schorn (@alwayskelley) October 30, 2018
If Twitter removed the 'like' button, people might actually have to talk to each other! 😲🤨😄#likebutton
- Danielle Meredith (@daniellemered_) October 30, 2018
I love this initiative from @Twitter. That will force all of us to improve the quality of post, prevents laziness of liking content just to support. Instead, create content and thoughts that force engagement. https://t.co/9HTlbKiTlE #socialmedia #likebutton
- Blas Giffuni (@BGiffuni) October 29, 2018
If @Twitter takes away our #likebutton , we'll adapt.
❤️ =eh
❤️❤️ =smirk
❤️❤️❤️=heh heh
❤️❤️❤️❤️=awesome
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️=BEST THING EVER!
👎🏼= boo
👎🏼👎🏼= for real?!
👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼=OMG. Stop.
👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼=Terrible
👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼=Leave Twitter, please!- Adriana (@avalbarr) October 31, 2018
Maybe emoji's will take over for the like button? Emotions shown via emoji's count more on Facebook for their algorithm. Maybe Twitter is trying to become more like Facebook?
Likewise, how about having a Twitter follow me button under your tweet?
Over To You
Do you want to see the Twitter Like Button stay or go? I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below!