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Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#31

Post by noarchy »

gaius wrote: post #7

The twitter analogue is the "re-tweet" which IMHO is pretty obnoxious; your stream gets clogged with your friends RT'ing things about people you've a) never heard of and b) if you had and you cared, you'd just follow them yourself. Twitter at scale is a one-way "write only" medium.

Many re-tweets look like unreadable garbage to me, since people are often using URL shorteners in tweets that otherwise contain little else in the way of content. I tend to ignore long streams of such links, but maybe that's just me. Then again, I still don't think that I "get" Twitter.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#32

Post by klous »

jmonegro wrote: post #19
gaius wrote: post #7

The twitter analogue is the "re-tweet" which IMHO is pretty obnoxious; your stream gets clogged with your friends RT'ing things about people you've a) never heard of and b) if you had and you cared, you'd just follow them yourself. Twitter at scale is a one-way "write only" medium.

How would you know if you cared, if you didn't know about them? Besides, if there were a "like" button, it'd have the same effect since it would most likely show up in your timeline. A private "like" button? They have that as "favorite". Ultimately, the re-tweet makes it easier to discover new people within your network. If you're into design, and you're following other designers, chances are they're following other…

The favorite button in twitter isn't really private. All of your favorites are publicly viewable, by anyone.

http://twitter.com/insert_twitter_name/favorites

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#34

Post by rriepe »

"Like" seems pretty limited on Twitter.

News spreads on Twitter, and most of it you can't really "like" without looking like some kind of sociopath.

Tweets are also short enough to immediately show their relevance. In theory, anything that's retweeted should show its value at a glance, whether it's funny, interesting or tragic.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#35

Post by justinxreese »

sw1205 wrote: post #21
justinxreese wrote: post #16

Why? Because Twitter is not Facebook. Why do they need to have the same features?

They don't. However Facebook felt the need to borrow Twitters @replies ( http://mashable.com/2009/09/10/facebook-mentions/ ) so why can't Twitter borrow the Facebook like. Yes they are different sites and yes they serve different purposes. However if functionality can work on both and can aid the users of that site then why should it not be introuced - just because you can already do it on one is not a good enough re…

I'm not saying that they can't do it just because Facebook already has, I'm more saying that they don't have to just because Facebook does. Otherwise, every move they make would be to become more like Facebook. And that isn't the desirable outcome. They are unique pieces of software to provide unique needs. Twitter wants to forge its own identity and create its own features, not point at every Facebook feature and say "Okay, how can we do that?".

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#36

Post by chopsueyar »

Why stop at Twitter?

Why can't Hacker News have a like button for 'Ask HN' posts?

I don't really want to upvote this post, nor write a text-based reply communicating my feelings. Instead, I want to push a 'Like' button.

Conversely, why is there no 'Dislike' or 'Hate' button on Facebook?

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#37

Post by sw1205 »

justinxreese wrote: post #35
sw1205 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't. However Facebook felt the need to borrow Twitters @replies ( http://mashable.com/2009/09/10/facebook-mentions/ ) so why can't Twitter borrow the Facebook like. Yes they are different sites and yes they serve different purposes. However if functionality can work on both and can aid the users of that site then why should it not be introuced - just because you can already do it on one is not a good enough re…

I'm not saying that they can't do it just because Facebook already has, I'm more saying that they don't have to just because Facebook does. Otherwise, every move they make would be to become more like Facebook. And that isn't the desirable outcome. They are unique pieces of software to provide unique needs. Twitter wants to forge its own identity and create its own features, not point at every Facebook feature and sa…

Sorry I misunderstood your point - you are right they don't have to. We don't want two sites doing the same thing. I think Twitter is doing a good job forging it's own identity, it is Facebook that seems to be borrowing ideas from everywhere else - Foursquare etc. I do think however that 'like' could be useful for Twitter and they could implement it in a different way. I take your point though.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#38

Post by jokermatt999 »

I use Buzz, which does have a like button. Twitter has the people, but it seems so primitive when you look at Buzz instead. Yes, I know its simplicity is part of its charm, but you shouldn't need URL shorteners to share a link and 3rd party clients just to be able to use the website easily (Just try following a conversation on the main site).

I highly recommend Buzz as an alternative, if you can convince your friends to switch over too.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#39

Post by gaius »

gaius wrote: post #24
jmonegro wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you know if you cared, if you didn't know about them? Besides, if there were a "like" button, it'd have the same effect since it would most likely show up in your timeline. A private "like" button? They have that as "favorite". Ultimately, the re-tweet makes it easier to discover new people within your network. If you're into design, and you're following other designers, chances are they're following other…

Why would you care what someone you've never met's having for breakfast? Unless they were a famous chef maybe. Likes on FB don't show on the newsfeed, only the person whose thing you liked gets a notification.

Looks like I've offended some twittards, lol

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no 'like' button on Twitter?

#40

Post by glhaynes »

points wrote: post #14

I think what you're finding is that facebook is far better for 'personal 2 way communication', whilst twitter is better for mass announcement. It's a different scale of working. FWIW, I much prefer facebook, especially for things like family announcements.

Well said. After struggling to "get" Twitter for a while, I've realized that I don't have to post on it. It's essentially a read-only medium for me.

That's fine: I post on Facebook a lot and really enjoy the conversations there, but I don't like to post on Twitter because its conversation capabilities aren't great and, equally importantly, I don't have an audience! I'm not famous and most of the non-spam followers I have on Twitter are also Facebook friends. (Also, I personally really don't enjoy having to deal with the 140 character limit.) It's still really useful to me similarly to how many other web forums on which I'm primarily a lurker are useful.

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