According to the Telegraph, the founder of Twitter; Jack Dorsey says the platform will soon remove the ability to “like” tweets. He says this is a way to improve the debate on the platform.
‘Likes’ on Twitter were introduced in 2015 as a replacement for ‘favorites,” a star-shaped button that users were able to use as an alternative to the more public Retweet. In March 2018 Twitter introduced ‘bookmarks’ as an additional option for privately saving tweets.
The Like button has become a concern among mental health professionals who feel it drives people to crave the feeling of reward it gives, and to perform an online persona that will get more likes. Last year, Justin Rosenstein, the engineer who first implemented the Like button for Facebook told the Guardian that he has some regrets about what he unleashed on the world.
Maybe Twitter truly believes it can still be successful and become a place for more substantive discussion. Maybe people will gradually feel good about stepping out of the echo chamber and try to choose their words more carefully.
Dorsey has also floated the idea he plans to revamp Twitter as a way to stop “echo chambers” from proliferating on the site. Twitter is often criticized for a perceived “laissez-faire response” to trolls, threatening posts, the proliferation of both accounts, and misinformation and fake news.
Such an oddly announcement has naturally raised disapproval of the news all over the social media platform. Users take chances to point out that removing like button will only increase hostility on Twitter, which is probably might be true.
The response to The Telegraph tweet was vague as it says; “We’re experimenting and considering numerous possible changes” which means to be in their early stages of work. But if it is found true it’s almost certain that all the fun parts of Twitter would wither away.
