When the photo-sharing app Glass launched, it did so without any of these.
Daria Nepriakhina / Unsplash
Likable
Likes might seem like a simple feature.
You like a tweet or a photo, and you tap the like button.
d3sign / Getty Images
But it’s way more complicated.
Twitter didn’t always have likes.
It used to have stars, which made it feel more like a way to bookmark a tweet.
Daria Nepriakhina / Unsplash
Glass decided upfront to avoid that kind of manipulation.
But now, it has relented and added a like button.
How would it act if it wasnt the most prioritized action in the app?
Glass
What if it was more intentionala little slower?
saysGlass on its blog.
What you get is a notification when somebody taps to show their appreciation.
But if you’re going to do likes, this is the way to do it.
It hasno likesand yet is popular and compelling.
Its possible, but it would mean a fundamental change to how these services work.
Twitter could keep likes around but hide them from users.
Ditto for follower counts.
Instagram has evendone experiments in this direction.
But in the end, these metrics are what keep us coming back.
We like follower counts, and we love likes.
They may be what makes social networks so addictive.
A new service like Glass can make its position clear from the beginning.
In this case, its position is the opposite of Instagrams popularity contest.
But the existing networks are unlikely to change, because why would they?
A few folks complain about likes and follower counts, but does anybody really care?
Or know that they care?
