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Twitter users have been tweeting angrily over a Telegraph article that discusses comments Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, recently made about the plan to remove the like button (the heart icon)"soon". Dorsey wants to improve the level of discourse on Twitter - no easy task right now. Removing the feature does a few things, and not all of them are immediately in Twitter's favour which is what makes such a move so interesting.
'Likes' (previously favourite or the star icon) are a huge but pretty weak data point for Twitter. Cutting off this area blinds Twitter to a lot of potential data but the upsides should net the company more benefit in the long run. While retweets don't necessarily mean endorsement, it's hard not to see a heart as such a thing. So why do it then? Intent. The intent of the user is the key. While it is as easy to hit retweet as it is to like a tweet, the intent is different. A user is unlikely to retweet something they disagree with without extra information because it would go against their beliefs and may cause those who follow them to think negatively. Instead, the 'retweet with comment' element function becomes even more valuable to them. The extra information that people put into the comment is what Twitter needs to make better decisions and inform algorithms. People agreeing with each other doesn't help anyone. Instead, forcing people to state pleasure or dissatisfaction does help stir debate which is precisely what Dorsey wants. Partly because this will hopefully spur the right information and facts to get more light but also having a more deeply engaged user can't hurt either.
Twitter would do well to replace the like button with a voting mechanism, familiar to Reddit and message board users. While Facebook has its 'Reactions', a voting mechanic seems a bit more on brand for Twitter as it continues to move from its original social networking platform label into a news product. The comms team aren't giving anymore details however:
Last week during its Q3 Earnings call, Dorsey reiterated that Twitter understands its problems and wants to fix them. While banning users is often first thought of by many, Dorsey and co-workers want to raise the level of discourse; "We have every team around the company thinking about increasing the health of the public conversation...we're actually questioning some of the fundamentals and the incentives that the service is providing, and making sure that they are also encouraging and increasing healthy conversation on the service as well."
Dorsey wants a useful platform, that doesn't mean it has to be addictive. Twitter could just have removed the impact Likes have on its algorithm, this move seems more aimed at the platform's core values. Dorsey has been open about being held to account, reducing echo chambers and making Twitter a better place. If people delete their tweets after posting them because they don't get enough likes, that's just wasting everyone's time and Twitter resources. Twitter is more than a simple social network and taking some time to consider its role, value and future isn't a bad thing. The world would be poorer without Twitter and there are no quick fixes with anything that has hundreds of millions of users.
