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Objectively, it is a little weird for Twitter to have its own bookmarking function, with a nice convenient list that you (or anyone) can refer to. But that's e

by TillE 11y ago

Objectively, it is a little weird for Twitter to have its own bookmarking function, with a nice convenient list that you (or anyone) can refer to. But that's exactly how I use "favorite". It's really useful, whether it's a cute picture I want to share with someone later or something more informative. "Like" does nothing for me; I don't always want to imply approval by clicking that button.

janvdberg 11y ago
I use it the same way. But there have also been many times that I want to ACKNOWLEDGE that I enjoyed/liked/laughed at a tweet without polluting my favorites. A like button does just that. However I don't like that they just switched the favorites over to likes. They should have added a new option and maybe hidden the favorite option a bit more (if it's that important to them).
petercooper 11y ago
Ditto. Mostly because I read Twitter while bored on my phone and want to investigate things later when I'm on a proper computer.
- frostmatthew 11y ago
  Evernote (or similar) serves this function well, even better than a "favorite" because I can save/clip things from other sources. i.e. when I have time to read all the things I thought looked interesting I only need to to go Evernote, not to multiple sites. A long press on Twitter's native [Android] app and selecting "Share via..." will allow you to easily/quickly save it to Evernote (or whatever similar service you may use).
brlewis 11y ago
The English word "favorite" implies approval every bit as much as "like" does. Plenty of people use "like" the way you use "favorite", indicating attention, not that your friend's cat's death is your "favorite" news of the day or that you "like" the news.
- JoshTriplett 11y ago
  Perhaps, but the use of the "star" aligned with common usage on other sites to highlight something. And people often talked about "starring" tweets rather than "favoriting" tweets. If anything, it would have made more sense to change it from "favorite" to "star".
- the_watcher 11y ago
  Sure, when speaking about the formal English language. In terms of social platforms, however, favorite and like have very different connotations. Favorite implies something far less common than a like. Most people think of a favorite as something they'd like to come back to, while no one really pays attention to every thing they've liked on FB or Instagram
  - teaneedz 11y ago
    Yes! Favorite has meaning beyond the literal for anyone who has been online for a few days. I fav to bookmark or give a simple thumbs up. Hearts break that meaning.
- oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
  In fact, we're looking right now at a site that mixes up the meanings of like and favourite with no apparent problem.
- richmarr 11y ago
  > The English word "favorite" implies approval every bit as much as "like" does Personally I don't buy this. I'm used to 'favourites' and 'bookmarks' being used interchangably by browsers, which reduces the approval implication of that term... and the heart symbol doesn't mean 'like' to me, it means 'love', so has a higher level of implied approval than in your comparison.
jghn 11y ago
I've generally seen "favorite" to mean "I don't disagree with you per se but I'm not going to reply"

by TillE 11y ago

janvdberg 11y ago

I use it the same way. But there have also been many times that I want to ACKNOWLEDGE that I enjoyed/liked/laughed at a tweet without polluting my favorites. A like button does just that. However I don't like that they just switched the favorites over to likes. They should have added a new option and maybe hidden the favorite option a bit more (if it's that important to them).

petercooper 11y ago

Ditto. Mostly because I read Twitter while bored on my phone and want to investigate things later when I'm on a proper computer.

frostmatthew 11y ago
Evernote (or similar) serves this function well, even better than a "favorite" because I can save/clip things from other sources. i.e. when I have time to read all the things I thought looked interesting I only need to to go Evernote, not to multiple sites. A long press on Twitter's native [Android] app and selecting "Share via..." will allow you to easily/quickly save it to Evernote (or whatever similar service you may use).

brlewis 11y ago

The English word "favorite" implies approval every bit as much as "like" does. Plenty of people use "like" the way you use "favorite", indicating attention, not that your friend's cat's death is your "favorite" news of the day or that you "like" the news.

JoshTriplett 11y ago
Perhaps, but the use of the "star" aligned with common usage on other sites to highlight something. And people often talked about "starring" tweets rather than "favoriting" tweets. If anything, it would have made more sense to change it from "favorite" to "star".
the_watcher 11y ago
Sure, when speaking about the formal English language. In terms of social platforms, however, favorite and like have very different connotations. Favorite implies something far less common than a like. Most people think of a favorite as something they'd like to come back to, while no one really pays attention to every thing they've liked on FB or Instagram
- teaneedz 11y ago
  Yes! Favorite has meaning beyond the literal for anyone who has been online for a few days. I fav to bookmark or give a simple thumbs up. Hearts break that meaning.
oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
In fact, we're looking right now at a site that mixes up the meanings of like and favourite with no apparent problem.
richmarr 11y ago
> The English word "favorite" implies approval every bit as much as "like" does Personally I don't buy this. I'm used to 'favourites' and 'bookmarks' being used interchangably by browsers, which reduces the approval implication of that term... and the heart symbol doesn't mean 'like' to me, it means 'love', so has a higher level of implied approval than in your comparison.

jghn 11y ago

I've generally seen "favorite" to mean "I don't disagree with you per se but I'm not going to reply"