Twitter might hide its 'like' and 'retweet' metrics

Twitter.
(Image credit: LEON NEAL / Getty Images)

Twitter wants to make some changes, and two of its most notable features, likes and retweets, could face the chopping block, Buzzfeed News reports.

The social media company recently released a public prototype called "twttr" to test out users' responses to the possible alterations, as the platform looks to repair what Buzzfeed News calls a "fundamentally broken" system. One of those possible changes is making engagement metrics invisible (though a simple tap would reveal them.) That's an idea long championed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who reportedly thinks likes and retweets "encourage users to be outrageous" to enhance their own profiles.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.