Amidst varying reports, Twitter is not actually killing the ‘Like’ button, at least, not yet

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Imagine Twitter without its iconic Like button. Early Monday, The Telegraph said the social network was thinking about removing the feature “soon.” Hours later, the powers to be at Twitter said otherwise.

In the original post, The Telegraph said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was likely to remove the tool as part of his push to improve public discussions on the social network. Later, the Twitter Comms account said a final decision hasn’t yet been made.

It also notes that Twitter is “rethinking everything about the service” to ensure healthy convo, because apparently after 12 years of existence, it still needs work (it does).

Check it out:

As we've been saying for a while, we are rethinking everything about the service to ensure we are incentivizing healthy conversation, that includes the like button. We are in the early stages of the work and have no plans to share right now. https://t.co/k5uPe5j4CW

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) October 29, 2018

Could Twitter survive without a Like button?

Not surprisingly, just the thought of removing the Like button has lead to some criticism.

One user, for example, said “having likes is actually ‘healthy conversation’ you know that right? Instead of people replying to everything just liking a tweet makes people know someone appreciates it without having to reply to everything.” Another explained, “Removing the like button would be incredibly stupid. There’s a reason why every other social media platform affords this sort of feedback mechanism.”

Cleaner debate on Twitter is a notable goal. However, I’m not sure removing the Like button is the way to go. The button provides a quick way for users to tell a poster they like their tweet. What makes this so wrong? Perhaps instead of removing this iconic tool, the company would be wise to look at other ways to improve the public debate being done on its platform. (Removing bogus accounts, anyone?)

Personally, I would probably use Twitter much less if it removes the Like button. Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know in the comments below. 

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Bryan M. Wolfe

Bryan considers himself a well-rounded techie, having written articles for MakeUseOf, KnowTechie, AppAdvice, iDownload Blog. When he's not writing, he's being a single dad and rooting for his alma mater, Penn State, or cheering on the Patriots.