Favourites? Likes? Or both?

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

This morning, I implemented a shiny new favouriting system on Pony.fm, which lets you easily add tracks, albums, and playlists to your favourites with the click of a button.

 

 

It works great, and I like how it turned out. But, right as I was about to begin working on a likes system to upvote good content, I realized that it would be practically the same thing as the favourite system, just with a different name.

• Both systems would serve to mark content that you have positive feelings toward (ie. content you like).
• Both systems "collect" content that you like in no particular order, unlike playlists.
• Aggregating the number of favourites or the number of likes on something for any reason is pretty much the same operation. So, either one would be suitable for use as a statistical system.

The two would be functionally identical. The only difference that a "likes" system and a "favourites" system would have is the connotation implied by the words:

• "Favourite" has a stronger connotation than "like".
• To put it another way, saying that something is a "favourite" is another way of saying that you really "like" it.
• Favouriting something implies that you like it.
• Liking something DOES NOT necessarily imply that it's one of your favourites.

To be honest, I don't think that we need separate "I like this" and "I really like this" systems. So, I'm leaning toward taking the favourites system I already built and renaming it to a likes system. Instead of favouriting something, you'd like it, and content you like will be displayed on your profile. Same thing, really; just different words used to describe it.

 

I believe this would encourage people to make more use of the system, because of the weaker connotation associated with the word "like". "Favourite" is more likely to imply that it's part of a curated list, and that's what playlists exist for.

 

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What do you think?

[CloudFyre 848]

SoundCloud uses favorites (noted by a little heart symbol) and it works well. But I do see what you're saying about connotations though.

To me, "like" is a term I always associate with Facebook...not that it really matters that much.

[letterone 1,204]

Personally I think favorites are all we need. No specific reason why, I just never cared to click "like" on anything anywhere. It just seems pointless to me.

[Anorax 29]

Someone's already said it, but yes. Soundcloud uses "favorites", but they function the same as likes. there's no need for a duplicate system.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

@@CloudFyre,@@letterone, @@Anorax,

 

All right then. So, if it came down to calling it a "likes" or a "favourites" system, which would you prefer (or perhaps the zany alternative I have on MLP Forums, "brohoofs")? I'm leaning toward likes, personally, because I feel that the weaker connotation of the word would encourage people to use the system more.

[Anorax 29]

I'm not so sure, I abuse the favorites button on Soundcloud

[letterone 1,204]

If it were just likes, would there still be a list of them like how favoriting works already?

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

If it were just likes, would there still be a list of them like how favoriting works already?

 

Yes. It would be the exact same system, functionally. Just replace every instance of the word "favourite" with "like".

[King 5,625]

I prefer the favourites system.

 

The top favourited content will work he exact same way as the top liked content and so there isn't too much difference there.

So it pretty much makes the "like" system redundant in whole and unnecessary in my opinion.

 

Favourite is a little stronger then "like" but it makes people think more... I know people who "like" pretty much everything, BUT don't favourite content unless it truly is something they REALLY like. It's stronger in wording and in practice, so in my opinion, stay with just one system...the "Favourite" system

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

Sounds like the "I really like this!" system's a keeper, then. I'll be blogging about it soon.

[Neikos 968]

What about upvoting? It's a way to show recognition without putting a mark of it on your profile and it can be used for stats.
(unless I am missing something )

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

What about upvoting? It's a way to show recognition without putting a mark of it on your profile and it can be used for stats.

(unless I am missing something )

 

Is there really a point in not showing songs you've upvoted/favourited/liked/whatever'd on your profile?

[Neikos 968]

Is there really a point in not showing songs you've upvoted/favourited/liked/whatever'd on your profile?

 

 

Yes, clutter. Of course there is nothing that forbids it and a section "songs I've upvoted" can be useful, but I meant it being on your profile directly. 

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

Yes, clutter. Of course there is nothing that forbids it and a section "songs I've upvoted" can be useful, but I meant it being on your profile directly. 

 

As it's set up right now, your profile only shows the last three things you've favourited, and has a link to a dedicated page for the rest of them if you have more. See my profile for an example of how it looks with a few more things on the list.

[Neikos 968]

Well what I thought of was something like youtube's upvote system where it gets put into a seperate playlist.

[nlaq 180]

(hey look, first post on MLP Forums! )

 

So yeah, this is one thing that I am personally very interested in for a post-BETA feature. I believe there is a difference between "something I may want to come back to" and "something that I thought was particularly good."

 

Favorites are an easy way to organize the content that you are interested in. In the future, I would really like to see something like a "personal library" of sorts where your favorite content goes into. Think of like a Windows Media Player or Google Music library. This is a feature that I was envisioning a long time ago when I had thought of an idea of a pony music site, myself.

 

Liking/upvoting/"brohoofing" something is a different idea all together. It may not be something that you would want to collect, and with the exception of your "likes" getting fed into some sort of activity stream, I don't see this as something that needs much of a frontend presence.

 

With that in mind, I really really really want to have the concept of popular music (for the day, week, month and all time) that would be powered by something lighter than a fully-fledged "this is content I wish to collect" - but more involved than you having simply viewed/played a track. Having a "like" system (no-matter what it is called in the frontend) could power quite a few very interesting content-curation features - even things like "upcoming artists" and so on.

 

In its current form, I see Pony.fm as a content discovery platform. Until the SPA hits, it wouldn't really be something that could replace Google Music due to the nature of the site's navigation. To that end, likes, and features powered by likes, would be very handy.

 

My 2 cents, anyway