Twitter Inc. recently has replaced their 'Star' feature with a 'Heart' feature. The new feature is more on the lines of the Facebook 'Like' feature. The new feature is known as 'Likes'. The earlier 'Star' icon featured way back from the year 2006. The heart shaped icon is the same that Instagram has. Instagram was bought by Facebook, back in 2012.

According to The New York Times, the Product Manager at Twitter, Akarshan Kumar, wrote in blog that they want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use as sometimes the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers.

The move is targeted at the new users.Twitter has been always making changes to attract new users from time to time. Kumar also mentioned that it is a 'common language for our global community.' Here he means that the same 'Like' feature could be found on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram, which will make it easier for a user to relate.

Soon after the change, critics started flowing in. There were many tweets related to the new feature. "Changing @Twitter's star to a heart is the worst product decision in the history of the internet; makes a bookmark into an endorsement," a user tweeted. "You Facebooked my Twitter", another user tweeted.

The Star icon was used by users on twitter to bookmark and save for later reference, whereas the new 'Heart' icon will be used to show a 'positive feeling'. One powerful feature that Twitter has got is its 140-character limit.

This feature does not allow the users to exceed the limit of 140 characters, which keeps the message short and precise. The change is certainly aimed to rope in new users and increase the engagement. Facebook similarly is experimenting with its range of emoticons called as 'Reactions'. 'Reactions' comes with a pack of seven emotions that a user will be able to use in order to express his feelings better.