Privacy is an important factor in the digital cyberspace and social media. Users should have autonomy over all the privacy settings on these kinds of social platforms. Almost every social media platform provides adequate privacy settings nowadays. Twitter(currently known as X) is too a social media platform that provides unmatched privacy settings and respect the privacy preferences of their users.
This article will act as a guide for those who wish to change their default privacy settings and who prefer to keep their profile low in cyberspace. Liking the posts on Twitter means that you appreciate the content or maybe that could be your area of interest. It is to show the users how to make likes private on Twitter and live a private social media life on Twitter.
What is the process of ‘Liking’ on Twitter?
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The Likes in social media are to show appreciation and acknowledgment to the creator. It is the digital way of appreciating the publishers and creators. Likes are usually represented in the form of a small heart-shaped symbol. Users can view the post on the platform and show their acknowledgment towards the creator via the process of liking. Users will be given a clickable or tappable heart-shaped icon, the icon will turn red after tapping on it, which means you liked the post. The number of likes and the user ID of those who liked the particular post will be visible to all the users on the platform. Apart from this, the author or creator of the tweet or post will be notified once you liked their post.
Also Read: X Is All Set To Launch The Real-time Search Tool For Its Premium+ Users
What is Private like on Twitter?
Twitter( currently known as X) brought a new feature this year that can enhance the user’s privacy and create a more private digital space on Twitter. In the previous version of Twitter, the user ID of the people who liked a particular post was visible to other users as well, but after 2024 June 12, a new update regarding the like system of Twitter was established.
Since then, likes on Twitter have been private by default. This indicates that other users will not be able to see who has liked a particular tweet or post. The author of the post will be able to see the liked people and the respective user will still be able to see their own liked posts and tweets. This feature is responsible for users’ enhanced privacy and unmatched anonymity on Twitter.
In summary
- Only the user will be able to see their likes.
- A particular user cannot see the liked posts of other users.
- The details of like count and other activity details will appear in the user’s notification tab.
- The total like count will be displayed on the platform.
Authorities of Twitter claim that they brought this option for the betterment of privacy and to protect the users. This feature was exclusively available to premium users, but right now the feature has been made available the non-premium users as well.
The hide likes feature was exclusively available to the premium users in the initial stage, but now the feature is coming by default. Users don’t need to worry about how to enable this feature anymore. In the previous version of Twitter, the premium users had to follow several steps to enable this feature. Let us have a look at the procedures they had to
- Step 1: tap the profile icon on the top of the homepage and navigate to the main menu
- Step 2: tap the ‘Premium’ option on the main menu
- Step 3: Select ‘Preference’ from the list and choose ‘Early access to select new features’
- Step 4: Click ‘ Profile customization’ to get the following options
- Step 5: tap the ‘Hide Likes tab’ option to enable the Hide Likes feature.
Current users don’t need to follow these above-mentioned steps to enable the Hide Likes feature since it is coming by default. Twitter made this feature available to all users as a part of increasing the users’ security in their digital platforms.
What is the importance of the ‘Hide Likes’ feature on Twitter?
Twitter has initiated a big revolution in the digital space by disabling the like view of other users. Concerns related to privacy can be eradicated via this feature. Your activity and likes will show your ideology, interests, and preferences, other users can determine your individuality via Twitter, so hiding this feature will create user anonymity and the privacy of an individual will be preserved.
Enabling this feature will lessen the possibility of exposing your identity to promotional content and spam. Many companies will use your preferences for the marketing of their products. This feature will hinder their access to your identity and individuals will be freed from these promotional advertisements.
Liking any tweets or posts related to controversial or sensitive issues will create a negative perception and false image in the Twitter community. So people will be reluctant to use the platform according to their ideologies. Enabling this feature will take the users away from receiving negative perceptions via Twitter.
Make your account private for more security
Even though the Hide Likes feature is the default in the Twitter app, you can make your account private by enabling some options. Users can navigate to their profile picture at the top left corner and select the ‘Settings and Support’ option from the menu. Then click the ‘Privacy and safety’ option. After clicking this option, a new section named ‘Audience, media and tagging’ will appear. From that, you can enable the options like ‘Protect your posts’ ‘Protect your videos’, and ‘Photo tagging’ you need.
Read More: X revises privacy policy to permit third-party AI model training with user data
Conclusion
Twitter has introduced a wide range of privacy measurements since it was taken over by Elon Musk. Twitter can offer online security and offer you unmatched privacy that many social media platforms lack. Users can freely roam the platform without having to worry about their identity deception.
