If your Twitter feed was anything like mine on November 3rd, it was approximately 50% rants about Twitter replacing Faves with Likes, 50% essentially claiming the change is a “first world problem”, and 1% kittens (percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding).
If you’re just catching up, Twitter has replaced the Favourites button (or star) with a Like button (or heart). This, of course, aligns with many other social media channels like Instagram, Tumblr, etc. Casey Newton at The Verge posted a brief history of favourites and how this change came to be on November 3rd – a nice quick read for a bit more context.
So, what does this mean for you, administrator of your arts org’s Twitter account? Probably not a lot. While some are saying this latest bid to appeal to a wider audience is the nail in Twitter’s unique and special coffin, it’s not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. No, a like certainly does not equal a fave – but just wait until you get your first “angry” emoji on your Facebook fan page.
So just keep tweeting, and your followers will just keep fave-ing… er, heart-ing.
