5 Reasons Twitter's New Heart Symbol Is A Terrible Idea

3. Change For Change's Sake

There's the nagging sense with the heart symbol that Twitter simply felt the need to make a major change to their user interface in order to appear as if they are innovating. It's no secret that the website has struggled to showcase itself as being backed by a profitable business model. The latest figures for the company's finances, released in October, said that the company is currently operating at a loss of $132 million after tax. In order to court advertisers, Twitter needs to be seen to be making constant changes to improve the experience for its users, encouraging them to spend more time using the site. The seemingly unnecessary alteration from "favourites" to "likes" is change for change's sake. The difference between the two is so subtle that there can't be any real reason for the decision, particularly given its clear unpopularity with the loyal user base that is surely the key driver for advertisers to invest in Twitter.