During being a fly on twitter for an industry conference, I noticed that the way we are using Twitter has changed significantly, and I attribute it mainly to the Favorite feature.  I did a little research, and there are many reasons why we use this feature:

• To “like” a comment and show our agreement or support
• To get a fellow tweeters attention to possibly follow you
• To show that we have seen their tweet – a simple way to end a conversation
• For the original purpose of bookmarking a tweet to go back to it later
• To create a separate feed to use for later – which I did for creating a Storify my conference experience
• For saying thank you to someone who did something nice for you on Twitter
• Some brands create a testimonial feed using their Favorites
• To help motivate another tweeter – similar to a pat on the back

I did do some research to find out if marking Favorite for tweets would boost tweet performance, and the only mention of this type of benefit is the fact that Twitter is now randomly posting popular tweets (with Favorite numbers being considered in the mix) on people’s twitter feeds.  This “benefit” may not be a benefit since some people are complaining about the extra “clutter” in their feeds.

The reason I am writing about Favorites is because I noticed that since this feature came out, there have been less retweets and less conversations. Similar to the “like” on Facebook, choosing to hit the Favorite button does little for building relationships.  Without the conversations, without the boosting someone’s tweet, and without the forwarding of good information, choosing Favorite does not create a two-way situation to benefit the other tweeter.

I have mixed emotions when someone Favorites my tweets.  I like the fact that they are either thanking me, bookmarking for later, or agreeing with me.  However, I dislike the fact that my tweets fall flat on their faces without being spread further, or being commented on to start a good conversation or discussion among several tweeters.  This is what used to happen in the good ol’ days before Favorites came along.

With the tasks of building audiences, building relationships, and arts advocacy, this Favorite function is killing the momentum.  Whenever you Favorite instead of Retweeting or developing a conversation, the original tweet intended for good goes nowhere.

So, keep hitting the Favorite button for the above listed good reasons, and these are the reasons I like getting the gold stars.  I just hope you realize that those benefits are mainly for you (with a few attaboys for the tweeter), and not for the common good of tweeters and tweet initiatives in general.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder for ADS

Thank you to Madeline Rosenstein @mfrosens for sending me two articles for my research.

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