Plainly X is contemplating one other UI replace, this time targeted on the Like icon, which can quickly be altering to a thumbs up as a substitute.
As you may see on this instance, in a publish from person Sawyer Merritt, some customers at the moment are seeing a thumbs up icon as a substitute of the same old coronary heart, whereas the icon has additionally been moved to the left-hand aspect.
Right here’s a side-by-side comparability of what I’m seeing within the app versus this new format:
The engagement choices have been rearranged alongside the underside of the publish, with the guts changed by a thumb.
Which looks as if an odd change, contemplating established recurring behaviors within the app. However then once more, Elon Musk is eager to stamp his personal imprint onto each component of what Twitter had as soon as been, and he has proposed much more sweeping modifications to the UI than this.
Like, for instance, eradicating the publish operate buttons altogether, and reverting to a bodily response-based engagement course of.
Musk has prompt that he desires the feed to be “extra clear,” with updates like this set to simplify and enhance the method. And from a visible perspective, that makes some sense, nevertheless eradicating the operate buttons can even probably affect total engagement, as a result of customers received’t have that speedy immediate guiding them to react.
That’s probably why X backed off of its plan to make this the default for all customers, including this up to date, “clear” show as an choice as a substitute.
However the change to the thumb icon as a substitute of the guts appears barely completely different, in that it’s not simplifying or streamlining the UI in any respect, it’s simply transferring issues round, and switching out the guts.
Until, in fact…
As you may see on this instance, shared by X Each day Information, some X customers are additionally reporting that they’ve each thumbs up and thumbs down icons showing under posts within the app.
Which might give customers a easy means to sign each their curiosity or dislike of any publish in-stream, through a direct, up-front choice.
That would work as an algorithm coaching instrument, serving to to additional customise and personalize your X expertise. And with each, the change to a thumb icon makes much more sense.
We don’t know, in fact, as a result of X hasn’t shared any official data on the check, and it doesn’t have a PR division to ask both. So we’re left to invest, nevertheless it does appear to be it might be transferring to an up to date system designed to facilitate higher customization in-stream.
