The “favorites” that had previously been represented by a star icon are now heart shaped “likes”
Twitter has been undergoing a number of changes – some larger than other – in order to boost its social media marketing and user growth that has been waning over the last while, and its latest effort has been a cosmetic one.
The little yellow star that was once meant for favorites has been changed into a little red heart for likes.
According to Twitter, itself, the reason it made the change was that the star icon was potentially leading to confusion among its users. However, the heart icon is more universally recognized around the globe as indicative of something that you like or love. However, this change has not necessarily been generating a tremendous number of heart shaped responses from the actual users of this network and it is unclear as to what impact it will have on social media marketing on that platform.
The hope is that tweeting and social media marketing will occur with less confusion using hearts and likes.
Many people have been complaining that it wasn’t the star but the change that has been the most confusing. The reason is that they felt the star was unique to Twitter and that users were able to figure out what it was for and when to use it. However, the heart is found all over other social media platforms and is used for different purposes. For example, it is an emoticon/emoji in Facebook and Instagram. By changing to the heart, some users have complained that Twitter is reducing its uniqueness.
Twitter, as a whole, can be rather intimidating for a brand new user. The entire concept often feels mysterious to a person who is only just beginning. However, it usually doesn’t take long to figure out and it is hardly something that requires vast tech degrees, say users who have tweeted their frustration about the change. That said, they pointed out that among all the features in Twitter and its social media marketing that can be considered the most confusing, the little star for “favorites” was hardly the greatest offender.
The highly popular social messenger app is playing a massive role in shopping and spending.
WeChat has a massive 600 million monthly users and has become a regular part of everyday life in China not only for sharing pictures and updates with friends and family, but also presenting enormous mobile commerce opportunities as people tell each other what they’re buying, where they’re eating and are even using it to hail a taxi when they’re ready to head home at night.
With this considerable opportunity in front of them, retailers are using this mobile app to reach consumers.
It isn’t just relying on mentions from users anymore. Mobile commerce has become a central component of the WeChat experience, as people send their orders to the nearest coffee shop so that it will be ready when they arrive, they are browsing the latest designer fashion collections, and are even designing their own custom pairs of Nike shoes. It can be used to plan vacations, count the number of steps taken every day, share photos, order meal deliveries, keep up with the news, and take part in a conference call.
This mobile commerce experience over the WeChat was originally founded in 2011 by Tencent.
It has risen to a point that is much larger than the experiences that are commonplace over m-commerce in most other parts of the world. In fact the experience offered to consumers in China who are often mobile-first, seems as though it is completely futuristic to areas of the world that have the same device penetration but that are not adopting mobile shopping to nearly the same degree.
According to McGann-Zhang co-founder and native of China, Yichi Zhang, “It’s an ecosystem,” adding that “In China, you have to use it.” Zhang explained that the user experience that is provided over WeChat is exactly what developers in every American industry – from retail to technology and publishing – have been attempting to create within the smartphone environment.
Bomoda CEO, Brian Buchwald, stated that when it comes to mobile commerce over WeChat, “They’re doing things we’re simply not doing in the U.S.” He also pointed out that China is doing exactly what they need to do to access its markets through mobile payments and apps for the first time, in the same way that one would “if you were going to start a city from scratch.”
