Elon Musk announced Thursday that he plans to remove likes and reposts from users’ feeds, instead showing only views on their timelines.
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𝕏 will be moving to a more simplified feed soon. The number of likes, reposts, and comments will be removed. Only the number of views is displayed. pic.twitter.com/rW1CKOMO0p
— Doge Designer (@cb_doge) March 7, 2024
Critics of the decision have strongly criticized it, labeling it “overly stupid” and predicting a “huge drop in engagement”.
Popular Twitter account Doge Designer first reported that Musk was considering removing likes and reposts from his feed.
In response to the backlash, Musk acknowledged that the changes are “definitely coming.”
The billionaire said that looking only at the number of views instead of other metrics will show up on your timeline. However, this concept was not accepted by many users.
One user commented that this approach reduces engagement because individuals typically interact with posts that have a significant number of likes.
Another user opined that implementing a “dislike” button is unwise and counterproductive, leading to decreased user interaction without any real positive results.
Musk recently announced that X users will soon have access to a new feature that will allow followers to see pinned posts.
#elonmask On Thursday, he announced that he would remove likes and repost counts from users’ feeds, leaving their timelines showing only views.
— indulgexpress (@indulgexpress) March 7, 2024
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said in a post that the feature will allow users to pin one post every 48 hours.
The billionaire informed his followers that changes to the recommendation algorithm are on the horizon to ensure all followers can see pinned posts.
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