X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, got some new features this week. They are, however, exclusively for X Premium subscribers, the $8-per-month subscription service that used to be called Twitter Blue.
So, what are they?
Hide your likes
First up, X announced the rollout of a feature that allows Premium users to hide which posts they've liked. The likes tab usually lives on the user's profile. By hiding the tab, visitors to a user's profile will no longer be able to see the feed of posts the user has liked.
Premium subscribers can find the option to hide likes by clicking on Premium, then Preferences, followed by Early Access. The Profile Customization tab then shows a check box that hides the likes tab.
Being that likes aren't blasted out on a user's feed to their followers like a repost (aka retweet) normally is, some users have apparently liked posts without realizing others on the platform can see what they liked. This has caused trouble for some users over the years, from politicians liking pornographic tweets to X owner Elon Musk himself liking explicitly racist posts.
Musk is downplaying the new feature, however, and actually encouraging users to keep their likes open. He suggested that users who want to privately save posts should use the built-in bookmarks option instead of liking the content.
Verify your account with a real ID
Just one day after X's announcement regarding hiding likes, the company also rolled out real ID verification for X Premium subscribers. The option can be found under the Verification section of a user's X Premium settings.
X Premium subscribers who choose to enable ID verification will need to upload a photo of an official form of government ID as well as a selfie. The social media platform has partnered with the ID verification company Au10tix, which uses biometric data to confirm a user's identification.
X Premium now lets subscribers verify their real ID. Credit: Mashable screenshotAccording to X, there are benefits to verifying your ID with the company. The platform will show an ID verification label to visitors who click on a user's blue checkmark, which X claims will "increase trust from other users." In addition, X will provide "prioritized support" to users who enable real ID verification. X also says it will roll out additional perks in the future such as expedited blue checkmark verification review. ID verified users will soon be able to change their profile photo, display name, or username more frequently.
Will any of these features convince users to sign up for X Premium, the company's struggling subscription service? To be frank, no, probably not. X continues to show that its latest developments are focusing on these paying subscribers, but the company has yet to provide a real value proposition for most of its users. Out of X's hundreds of millions of active users, less than a million users have subscribed for the paid service since it launched roughly 10 months ago.
