How the Like Button Killed Twitter
Remember when Twitter was all about conversation? I do.
Twitter was once the internet’s Town Square where you could chat with friends and meet new people. There was a free exchange of ideas and information and a lively conversation which ran 24/7. So what happened to this simple mass text messaging application?
There are lots of theories. Umair Haque writing for the Harvard Business Review blames the decline of the platform on the negative content, abuse, and bullying that are on the rise. While that is true, this behavior exists on most other platforms, so why has Twitter declined more than other tools?
A significant contributing factor is Twitter’s loss of focus. In the struggle to keep up, they have copied features, buttons, and functions from competitors. They have added features no one has actually asked for, essentially as Umair said “turned what was an elegant platform into a flashing Las Vegas of GIFs and #trending #spam.â€
What were the Twitter changes which decreased uniqueness?
The Like Button
Topping the list was the change from a favorite to a like button. Sounds simple right? Twitter had a “favorite function†almost since the launch. So why would the switch in the word from favorite to like be a big deal? The word “favorite†implies a higher level of respect for the content and people seemed to be reluctant to use it frequently. Instead, their first instinct was to retweet something they liked. That action kept the conversation going, introducing new people to ideas of others.
Once the “like†was introduced, it was a lazy way to acknowledge someone’s content. It made them feel good, but it didn’t expand the reach of the information. What can a user do?
- Actively engage in conversation.
- Browse through the feed and be deliberate in your intention to respond to comments.
- Seek out information in the timeline of new followers and retweet to introduce them to your community.
Looking for more opinions on where Twitter went wrong and what you can do go right?