Goodbye Twitter ‘Likes’?

When you hop onto Twitter are you more likely to “like”, “retweet”, or both? Believe it or not, the like button just might be out the door.

The like button has taken on a few different forms of the last few years, beginning as a star symbol until 2015.

This feature on Twitter is intended as a way for platform users to express their support or enjoyment in a piece of content.

However, Twitter has recently announced their plan to eliminate the like feature in hopes of encouraging healthy conversation.

“Us making that number bold and big incentivizes people to want to increase it, and feel bad if they couldn’t. That’s not right," Jack Dorsey - Twitter CEO and co-founder.

The psychology behind ‘Likes’.

‘Likes’ have become an indicator of popularity, social standing, and community relevance. The like button has merely become a vanity metric, and that’s scary. We might argue that the like button has increased our need as humans for validation and social gratification in the real world.

An anonymous 17-year-old was quoted as saying, “As someone who gets anxious and occasionally struggles with self-esteem, the amount of Likes on my posts can be both hugely uplifting or depressing.”

Additionally, a staggering 89 percent of people admitted that receiving several Likes on a social media post aides in their happiness.

Moreover, 55.4 percent of people admitted to being jealous when they see another person has more Likes.

When you start to read the statistics, removing the Like button might just be an easy sell for many of us here.

How ‘Likes’ affect business.

Likes affect brand awareness, but don’t necessarily convert to revenue. Primarily because liking is simple for users and easy to move on from.

What really matters on Twitter? Your business’s overall Impressions and Engagement Rate.

Twitter Impressions indicate your brand presence and how far into the platform your post has gone.

Your engagement rate is a compilation of Likes, Retweets, and post clicks.

In a perfect world, both your Impressions and Engagement Rate will be high. However, it’s important to analyze these numbers for insight in your followers.

If your Impressions are low and you have a high follower count, your followers are likely inactive. If your Impressions are high, but lacking in engagement, you should rethink your content.

Ultimately, the Like button on Twitter is a tool to show interest. On a personal level, we’re perfectly fine to see it go. On a business level, we’re interested to see how it could affect the world of digital marketing.