X, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, has unveiled a new feature exclusively for its premium subscribers.
This feature enables paid users to hide their liked posts on the platform, offering a level of privacy and control over their online activity.
Previously, on the social media platform, liked posts were public and visible to anyone who visited a user’s profile. However, with this new premium feature, subscribers can now conceal their likes tab, making it inaccessible to the public.
Premium subscribers can now enable this feature in their profile customization settings.
When activated, the likes tab vanishes from the user’s X Premium profile.
For non-paying users, liked posts remain publicly visible.
It’s worth noting that while the likes tab is hidden, individual likes on posts are still visible to others. This feature primarily affects the visibility of a user’s likes tab on their profile.
Read also: Twitter introduces custom likes, Hashmoji, Hashfetti
Elon Musk’s Perspective
Elon Musk, the owner of X, has provided his perspective on this new feature. Despite having the option to hide liked posts, Musk recommends that users keep their liked posts open. He personally maintains public likes on his profile and suggests using bookmarks to save posts of interest.
This feature draws comparisons to similar options on other microblogging platforms like Instagram’s Threads and BlueSky:
Instagram’s Threads: Users of Threads have the ability to keep their liked posts private, accessible through the “Your Likes” tab in settings. This feature is available to all users.
BlueSky: BlueSky allows likes to be either public or private. Applications using the Bluesky API can choose to display a likes tab on a user’s profile. Like Threads, this feature is accessible to all users.
In contrast, X’s new feature for hiding liked posts is exclusively available to premium subscribers, offering them greater control over the visibility of their online interactions.
X continues to evolve its platform, introducing new features and options for users, reflecting a growing emphasis on user customization and privacy.
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The development offers several benefits
The ability to hide liked posts on X, available to premium users, offers several potential benefits:
Privacy: Premium users can enjoy enhanced privacy by hiding their liked posts. This means that their online activity, in terms of the posts they’ve liked, will not be visible to others. This could be particularly appealing to users who value their online privacy and wish to keep their interests and engagement on the platform more discreet.
Control: It provides premium users with greater control over the content they share and their online persona. Some users may want to curate their public profiles more selectively, showcasing only the content they’ve posted rather than their interactions with other users’ posts.
Reduced Social Pressure: Publicly displaying liked posts can sometimes create social pressure or influence perceptions about a user based on the content they engage with. Hiding liked posts can alleviate this pressure, allowing users to engage with content freely without worrying about its impact on their online image.
Personalization: By hiding liked posts, users can personalize their X experience further. They can choose to engage with content based solely on their interests rather than concerns about how it might be perceived by others.
However, there are aspects that non-premium users will miss:
Limited Privacy: Non-premium users won’t have the option to hide their liked posts, so their activity will remain visible to others. This may be a trade-off for using the free version of the platform.
Reduced Control: Non-premium users may have less control over their public profiles and how their online interactions are perceived by others. Liked posts will continue to be visible on their profiles.
Social Influence: Publicly visible liked posts may continue to influence social dynamics and perceptions among users, as others can see what content they engage with.
Ultimately, the feature’s availability to premium users allows for a more tailored and private experience on the platform. Non-premium users, on the other hand, will continue to have their liked posts visible to others unless they choose to upgrade to the premium subscription.