The Twitterverse suffered a cataclysmic meltdown on Tuesday when Twitter without warning pulled the plug on its stars and replaced them with emotionally loaded bubblegum pink hearts.
The hearts, which are found on Twitter's Periscope and Vine, are supposed to represent "likes," while Twitter's stars, now unfortunately a relic of a bygone era, stood for people's "favorites." In the language of the Twitter world, however, faving something didn't really mean it was your favorite. It could mean a bookmark, or an acknowledgment of receipt, or even a curt goodbye. For Twitter users, stars meant something a "like" will never be able to stand for.
And this is exactly why Twitter has blown up over the removal of a teeny, tiny icon that symbolizes a huge part of why the website's 300 million active users use the platform every day. As expected, there is nowhere else more appropriate for people to air their grievances except on Twitter itself.
Twitter is trying to make me love things with this stupid new heart but I don't have a soul. Please put it back to giving one star reviews.
— Ali Spagnola (@alispagnola) November 3, 2015
I DO NOT GO ON TWITTER TO BE REMINDED THAT I AM CAPABLE OF HAVING FEELINGS #BRINGBACKTHESTAR — Katherine Timpf (@KatTimpf) November 4, 2015
I wanna like your tweet but I find it so tough clicking the heart. Can't keep giving my heart away #bringbackthestar https://t.co/7pgWczDpkR
— Ron Dorland (@rondorland) November 4, 2015
@coralinnnemcq I can fav a lot of things.... Puppies, memes, jokes. But HEART?? I heart very little #BringBackTheStar — Caroline McHugh (@coralinnnemcq) November 4, 2015
Fortunately for the slew of angry Twitter users calling for Twitter to #BringBackTheStar and professing their support for #TeamStar, a few enterprising souls have employed their technical expertise to shine the light on Twitter's iconic star once again. None of these are official tools, and Twitter might possibly cut support for some of them, but in the meantime, these Chrome extensions will let users ditch the fleshy human organ for the stellar beacon.
Twitter Star - It gives you exactly what you want — a Twitter star. Simply install the extension and see the stars shine back to light.
Star Back - This was thrown together by its developer in minutes, so there's always the risk of it breaking in the near future. However, it does the simple job of replacing the Twitter heart with a star, which makes it qualified in our list.
FavForever - This extension will easily replace the hearts with stars. However, it will not totally eliminate all the signs that the past is no longer the same. For instance, notifications will mention "likes" instead of "favorites," and tweets embedded in websites outside of Twitter will still show the hearts.
Stylish - Want more than a star? Stylish lets you replace the heart icon with a beer emoji, or a taco emoji, whatever you like. Of course, it can replace the heart icon with the original star, which is what most people just want, really. Either way, this extension lets you express your most important thoughts on Twitter any way you like with the icon of your choice.
