Twitter likes went private. Does the like count still matter?
X made Twitter likes private in 2024, but the like count on every post is still public. What changed, what likes do for reach, and when to buy them.
5 min readUpdated 2026-09-11
What went private, and what did not
In June 2024 X made likes private. Other people can no longer see which posts you have liked. The Likes tab on your profile is visible only to you, and the list of accounts that liked a post is shown only to the person who posted it.
What did not change is the count. The number beside the heart under every post is still public, to everyone, whether they are logged in or not. When someone judges whether a post landed, that number is still what they look at.
So likes lost their value as a public record of what people endorse, and kept their value as social proof on the post itself.
How much likes count for reach
When X published its recommendation code in 2023, the weights in its main ranking model were striking. A like was worth 0.5, a repost 1, and a reply 13.5. A reply that the author then engaged with was weighted at 75. The figures may well have changed since, but the shape probably has not: conversation drives distribution on X far more than likes do.
Likes are still a positive signal, and a post that picks up early likes has a better chance of being shown more widely. But if you are deciding where to put your effort, replies are where reach comes from.
Where a higher like count helps
On posts that act as a front door: your pinned post, a launch announcement, a thread you want read in full. Visitors arriving from a link see the like count before they read a word.
On posts you are about to promote. A promoted post with 3 likes reads as an ad nobody wanted. A few hundred makes it look like something people agreed with.
On accounts whose following has grown faster than engagement. A 6,000-follower account whose posts get 4 likes looks inactive, or bought. Bringing likes into a normal range fixes the mismatch.
Ratios that look right
Compare likes with views, since X shows both publicly. On most accounts, likes run at roughly 0.5% to 3% of views. A post with 20,000 views and 300 likes looks healthy. One with 900 views and 1,500 likes does not.
Keep replies in mind as well. A post with 2,000 likes and no replies at all is unusual on X, where people will argue about anything.
Our X likes start at 100 per order and cost $4.99 per 1,000 on High Quality, so 200 likes cost about a dollar. If the view count is the weak spot, views are sold separately at $0.29 per 1,000.
Can anyone see who the likes came from?
Only you. Since likes went private, the list of accounts that liked your post is visible to the author and nobody else. Visitors see the number but cannot open the list to inspect the accounts behind it.
That makes a modest, well-proportioned like count very hard for anyone else to question. It does not make an absurd one believable. The ratio to views and replies is still on show for everyone.
A worked example
A founder posts a thread announcing their app's launch. After an hour it has 6,000 views, 40 likes, 6 reposts and 9 replies. The thread is good, but 40 likes on a launch reads as lukewarm to anyone deciding whether to click through.
Adding 100 likes, our minimum, brings the post to about 2.3% of views, inside the normal band, for about 50 cents. Adding 1,000 would push likes to nearly 17% of views, which launch threads simply do not reach, and it would look bought to anyone glancing at the numbers.
The founder's best use of the next hour is replying to every reply. X's ranking rewards authors who join their own conversations, and those replies are where extra reach actually comes from.
Mistakes that give it away
Likes without replies. X is a conversation platform, and a post with 1,500 likes and no replies stands out far more than one with 150 likes and 12 replies.
Likes far beyond views. Because views sit right next to likes, the ratio is visible to everyone. Keep likes under about 3% of views.
The same bump on every post. Real accounts have posts that flop. A profile where every post has between 180 and 200 likes, whatever it is about, looks manufactured.
Delivery and refill
Likes go to one public post by its link. They start within minutes and are spread over the following hours. Protected accounts cannot receive likes. High Quality orders are refilled for 30 days and Premium for 90 if likes drop.
Common questions
Can people still see like counts on X?
Yes. The number of likes on every post is public. What went private in 2024 is who liked a post and which posts you have liked.
Do likes help reach on X?
A little. X's ranking weights replies and reposts much more heavily than likes.
Who can see who liked my post?
Only you, as the author. Everyone else sees the count but not the list.
How many likes should I buy?
Keep them at roughly 0.5% to 3% of the post's views.
How much do X likes cost?
$4.99 per 1,000 on High Quality and $6.49 on Premium, from 100 likes.
Can I still see which posts I have liked?
Yes. Your Likes tab is still on your profile, but since June 2024 only you can see it.
Should I buy likes or views on X?
If a post has few views, start with views, because likes far above views look wrong. If it has decent views but few likes, add likes. Often a little of both works best, kept within the normal range.
How fast do X likes arrive?
They start within minutes and are spread over the following hours, so the count climbs the way it does on a post people are reading.