X Hides Likes: Is Nintendo's Miiverse Making a Comeback

In a recent wave of changes, Elon Musk's X (formerly known as Twitter) has made Likes on the platform private, meaning you can no longer see the liked posts of other users. This decision could have various impacts, such as making it more difficult to gauge new followers' interests and know which of your followers agree with certain posts without their explicit comments. The choice may lead to more uninhibited engagement, especially considering X now allows explicit content, contrasting with platforms like Tumblr that took the opposite approach.

Interestingly, this recent change may draw parallels to Nintendo's now-defunct Miiverse, a social network for 3DS and Wii U. Miiverse allowed users to share moments from their games, receiving "Yeah!" reactions similar to Likes. Although Miiverse was short-lived, it fostered a highly engaged community that appreciated its unique way of sharing game moments. This functionality is echoed in the new private like system on X, prompting some users to create custom "Yeah!" reactions to adapt to the changes.

Making Likes private may lead to more authentic interactions since users might feel freer to engage with content without public scrutiny. However, it can also hinder community-building as it removes an easy way to discover shared interests through visible likes.

Background info: Miiverse was launched by Nintendo in 2012 and was integrated with the Wii U and later the 3DS. It provided unique social engagement by allowing players to post game-related content directly, which could be liked and commented on by other users. Despite its enthusiastic user base, Miiverse was discontinued in 2017, but it remains fondly remembered for its creative and community-driven environment.