X Tests Removing Likes and Reposts from Timelines

A software engineer from Elon Musk’s X, has said that in the near future, likes and reposts may stop appearing on users’ timelines.

“This change is still ‘dogfooded’ by staff, though I am not directly part of it.” On April 29, X software engineer Ellis Driscoll stated that customers should anticipate some phase-in over the following weeks where UX might change.

The first person to publish a demo video of the unpublished user experience (UX) was Christopher Stanley, head of payments at X, which contained an ‘exploding menu’ that included likes and reposts under a separate menu on the home screen. Driscoll’s remarks followed this video.

Driscoll pointed out that Stanley only showed the “more” option within the film, not the overall user experience (UX) for X users. He believes that “simple gestures” will form part of the functionality of the new UX.

Loading is better than being equivalent. He also pointed out that reactions should be faster.

Worth noting is that the X user will still be able to see the number of likes and reposts on any post, but he or she will have to select each post one at a time for these metrics.

Stanley noted that the new design is “sort of like a video game interface,” and it enables users to swipe through posts to select them.

To ease concerns that the app was affecting the users’ mental health, Instagram hid public like counts (now “hearts”) in 2021, hurrying the competitiveness based on the likes among the younger audience of Instagram.

X has not given a significant explanation why likes have been removed so far, but on the other hand, Stanely has mentioned a few comments that suggest that the new features will improve the UX and maximize the screen real estate, among others.

A lot of X accounts have argued that the new format would put an end to the avalanche of engagement-oriented messages, but refocus attention on the actual content of the postings.

At the same time, some users have expressed concerns that the new function, which resembles Instagram and TikTok, might enable the social media platform to promote content that appeals to their internal teams without giving any information to users as to why a post is trending.