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.

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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.