Insight of the week from the Harvard Friday Five – 6 Nov 2015

Our top story of the week – as featured in the Harvard Friday Five newsletter – is Twitter's decision to bin "favourites" in favour of hearts. We've pointed out before how Twitter is rapidly increasing its product innovation (such as Moments and polls) as it seeks a broader audience and bigger revenues. This week saw one of the most controversial changes so far, as it removed its "favourites" feature for "likes" (in the shape of a heart). Cue the howls of protest that accompany every tweak to an online product, before we all get used to it. (The Guardian's call to "nationalise Twitter" is particularly silly). For brands who use Twitter, the change makes their feeds even more emotionally driven than before and will have a small effect on Twitter etiquette. The bigger issue is that Twitter doesn't have the user base it wants. It'll keep changing until it finds it. If you’d like to sign up for the Harvard Friday Five – five updates, insights and ideas delivered to your inbox every Friday morning – please click here. Photo credit: Mashable