Twitter Killed the Favorite, Now It Needs a Save Button

Twitter just killed the favorite – the star you’ve known and loved for years – and replaced it with a “like” in the form of a heart. Does it change a whole lot? Probably not. Fav’ing wasn’t the most important tweet action anyway. That, of course, goes to the retweet.

Still, it seems like everyone is pissed. Just take a look at Twitter right now and do your best unscientific poll of user sentiment. The majority of people tweeting about the change are tweeting some level of disapproval. Why is Twitter trying to be Facebook with the “like”?or Why is Twitter trying to be Instagram with that heartor Why the hell did Twitter get rid of something that distinguished itself from the pack?The favorite was pure Twitter, through and through, and now it’s dead.

Ok fine. It’s dead. Really, everyone will get over it.

But now Twitter needs to add a “save” button.

You can say a lot with a heart. Introducing a new way to show how you feel on Twitter: https://t.co/WKBEmORXNW pic.twitter.com/G4ZGe0rDTP

— Twitter (@twitter) November 3, 2015

Sure, most of your uses of the favorite star over the years have probably been to show approval someone’s tweet, or agree with it, or like what they’re saying.

That’s not the only thing Twitter’s fav star was used for, however. A smaller, but still important use of the favorite was to simply bookmark or save a tweet for later. Scrolling through your feed and see a tweet with a recipe you want to make later? Fav it. Scrolling through your feed and see a strange GIF you want to show a friend later? Fav it.

But there were also the times when you’d want to favorite a tweet that you found awful, repugnant, or otherwise distasteful. Let’s say something that Donald Trump just tweeted. Newsworthy? Sure. I want to save that tweet for later. But do I likeit? Do I heartit?

Probably not.

Like I said before, people will probably use the heart the same way they use the star – for the most part. But Twitter needs to give users an option to easily bookmark a tweet for later – a sort of “save without endorsement” button.