The biggest fear among companies in Silicon Valley is stagnation. It’s a word and a concept that many of the area’s billion-dollar businesses have avoided.

Twitter, a company with as much influence and reach as any other in Silicon Valley, is making it strikingly apparent by changing “favorites” to “likes” that it fears it’s beginning to stagnate.

The business numbers for Twitter show that its fears are valid. The company added just three million new users from June to September, according to The Guardian. For a company with 320 million monthly active users, that’s a number that should be triggering alarms at Twitter’s headquarters.

While Twitter should, and has, made some changes due to its drop in new-user rates, it shouldn’t do so at the expense of its current users.  If those at the company think that changing a button from “favorite” to “like” is going to increase users, they are already showing signs that the company’s desperation is influencing their judgment.

Changing a star to a heart doesn’t seem like an egregious offense, but judging by some responses by current users, you would think Twitter just insulted everybody’s mom.

In Twitter’s blog post announcing the move last week, it says the decision was made because “We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.” It then goes on to say that a heart is universally understood and that it has more meaning behind it.

The key word in that post is “newcomers.” Essentially, Twitter thinks that the star is so confusing that it repels potential newcomers from joining.

Are you kidding me? This is a company full of some of the most intelligent human beings on this Earth, and it’s kind of ridiculous that they all came to a consensus that this is one of the ways they will get more followers.

What Twitter really should do is look at changing the culture of its users. The site has become a meeting ground for trolls and bullies. Take one look at the comment section of a post involving any celebrity, athlete or public figure and you’ll think twice about how much you love the human race.

The company states that its mission is “to give everyone the ability to create and share ideas and information instantly, break down barriers.” It accomplishes the first part of that statement really well; everyone has a voice on Twitter. Unfortunately for the company, that’s a double-edged sword in that draws in new users and but discourages potential ones.

What the company may have to come to terms with is something that it almost certainly never will: maybe it’s reached its maximum potential. Twitter isn’t really a place for people to directly communicate with one another. Rather it’s a site where you can post broad opinions, read broad opinions or follow events in real time.

The company is clearly searching for a way to gain more users, but should proceed carefully. Too often these companies sacrifice user experience in the pursuit of something that may appeal to a wider audience.

So, Twitter, here’s a piece of advice from someone with a lower IQ than anyone in your offices: your product is fine. People clearly don’t like the change, but, at the end of the day, nobody really cares about favorites or likes.

Users care about the content that runs down their feed. Just don’t screw that up.

Paul Sarconi is a junior broadcast and digital journalism major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at pjsarcon@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @paulsarconi.

Published on November 11, 2015 at 12:36 am