Elon Musk is going to bury likes and retweets on X (Twitter)

Elon Musk continues its strategy of eliminating features in X (Twitter). On this occasion, the tycoon confirmed that will stop showing “retweets” (or “shares”) and “likes” for each post. In doing so, it will follow the path of platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, which hide the number of likes.

Although this is not an official announcement (X does not have a communications department), Musk made it clear that the decision had been made.. Twitter owner I assure to one of his most loyal followers on the platform, who announced that the number of likes and shares would disappear from his feed.

“It’s definitely happening. The timeline will only show the number of views as an indicator of other metrics.“, said Elon Musk. Although the number of likes and retweets will not be displayed in the feed, users will be able to view it if they access the post. If this happens, Elon Musk will eliminate one of the oldest features of old Twitter.

The number of likes and retweets was an indicator of participation (engagement) in publications on the platform. This has become an engagement factor for some users, although this has declined in recent years due to a wave of spambots. In addition, some experts note that Counting likes is bad for mental health.

Report Wall Street Magazine in 2021 showed that platforms such as Facebook or Instagram increase levels of anxiety and depression. Likes are important because some teenagers use them as a gauge to determine whether they are popular. Because of this, Meta decided to hide them in her Instagram posts, albeit by choice.

Elon Musk wanted to hide likes and retweets for a year

Unlike Meta or YouTube, the decision to hide likes and retweets of X’s posts has nothing to do with mental health. Elon Musk wants “cleaner” food, with entries that only show the time of publication and the number of views. Magnate stated that “he’s been really wanting to do this for a year,” and detailed how he would apply it.

“Only the time and number of views are displayed in the upper right corner. Nothing below. Swipe right to reply, swipe left to add to favorites, and hold down for more actions. Very clean”

Although some social network users noted the changes, others expressed dissatisfaction. One of them suggested to Elon Musk Vox Populi, Vox Deia policy that applies when you want to implement a new feature or unblock a user who has been banned from the platform.

It is difficult to say whether the measure to hide likes and retweets will work or whether it will be applied permanently. Although Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino consider viewership to be an important metric, the truth is that This figure is of little help to those who measure engagement. If advertisers protest, they will have no choice but to keep these features visible.