DEVELOPMENT

X may remove the number of likes and shares on articles, replacing them with a long-press menu, criticized for complicating operations.

share
X may remove the number of likes and shares on articles, replacing them with a long-press menu, criticized for complicating operations.

According to software engineers and executives at X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter, X may soon remove the icons for liking, replying, and retweeting below tweets and replace them with a long-press menu for interactions. It is understood that the introduction of this feature may effectively reduce engagement bait tweets and enhance the quality of tweet content.

X considering removing likes and retweets

Based on a video shared by X's Head of Payment, Christopher Stanley, it appears that X is attempting to remove features such as likes, replies, retweets, shares, and bookmarks, and consolidate them into a bubble-style menu that appears after long-pressing a tweet.

He pointed out that the new user experience will be mainly based on simple gestures, making interactions such as liking and replying quicker.

At the same time, X users will still be able to view the number of likes, retweets, and views of a tweet by individually clicking on a tweet:

The new interface design will encourage user engagement through a long-press and swipe selection, similar to a video game interface.

X's software engineer, Ellis Driscoll, confirmed this message in a reply with users, stating that the feature will be rolled out in the coming weeks:

I'm not in that department myself, but employees are indeed testing this, and it should gradually be rolled out to users in the next few weeks, at which point the app interface may change.

Currently, X has not provided an explanation for the aforementioned changes, but Stanley stated that X will focus more on enhancing user experience and increasing operability on the menu as much as possible.

Potential enhancement in tweet quality

Some users expressed appreciation for this, stating that the feature may help shift focus to tweet content and quality, rather than just popular tweets with high engagement, which could reduce the trend of articles that prioritize popularity over content:

The new feature will allow users to see the content they truly enjoy watching, rather than algorithm-generated, popular content.

Furthermore, this change may also indirectly reduce the frequency of like farms on the X platform, decrease the comparison mentality among young users, and improve user experience.

Criticism on complicating operations

However, some users liked the original intuitive and straightforward operation interface, criticizing that what used to be achievable with a single finger now requires two clicks:

Why make things unnecessarily complicated when it was simple before?

Additionally, some users expressed concern that the new feature may potentially help X promote content that is favorable to its internal teams rather than content that users truly enjoy, claiming this is similar to the current situations on Instagram and TikTok.