The changes are part of a broader effort to make Twitter and Vine more intuitive for average users.

“We want to make Twitter easier … and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers,” Akarshan Kumar, Product Manager at Twitter, explains in a new blog post. “The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures and time zones.”

As for the name change, Kumar said: “You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.”

In tests, Kumar said users have responded positively to the changes. Not entirely new to Twitter, its live video-streaming service Periscope already uses the heart icon.

Facing stagnant user growth, Twitter is engaged in an increasingly desperate effort to simplify its services.

The social giant recently debuted a new Moments service, which surfaces timely content in clearly defined blocks. Formerly named Project Lightning, Moments is squarely aimed at the millions of consumers who have yet to embrace Twitter in its current -- and what many call confusing -- form.

Moments is “just the start of bolder simplification efforts,” Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s second-time CEO, told analysts last week. “There are “many, many more to come over the year,” he said.