Twitter could kill ‘favourite’, replace with star or like buttons

Looks like Twitter is contemplating a redesign for the ‘favourite’ button. Some users are reportedly seeing stars and likes in place of the current format.

Twitter isn’t averse to tweaking the formats of its tweets. Back in May it rolled out an update which made the favourite more prominent.

As The NextWeb notes, the star feature is what fledgling social network App.net. It’s also a way of sorting things in Gmail — so hardly an original concept then. Facebook might not be too fond of Twitter using a like button meanwhile.

One thing you might not know is that the favourite button might well have been a “Thanks” button. Citing inside sources at Twitter, AllThingsD says that when Twitter was figuring what to call the favourite button, Thanks was one of the early favourites.

By testing different variations of the button, Twitter can also get an idea of which is most popular with its users, and draw attention to the feature for those who aren’t really aware of it.

Despite the media attention the tweak’s been getting, Twitter has refused to issue comment.