Support

Social Tools

Likes

At the bottom of every WordPress.com post is a little message that looks like this:

This is the Like button, and it’s a way for people to show their appreciation for posts they come across on WordPress.com. It’s also a way for authors to show the world how popular their content has become.

Every WordPress.com blog includes the Like system, and it is very easy to use. We’ll show you how.

How to Like a Post

Let’s say you’ve found a particularly awesome post on WordPress.com. It says something you agree with, brightened your day, made you laugh, made you cry, or simply delivered information you needed to know. You’d like to tip your hat to the author and give him or her credit.

This is how Likes on a post evolve from a lonely post no one has discovered into posts that are showered in adoration from your fellow users.

So, say you’ve read a brand new post—and it’s the best thing you’ve read in a while. When you get to the end, you see the Like button—and that no one has Liked this post yet! You can’t let such an informative and well-written article go unappreciated, so to show your gratitude you click the Like button.

The button changes to show that you’ve Liked the post and even inserts a picture of your carefully chosen Gravatar as a visual indicator of your thanks. (Don’t have a Gravatar yet? Read here to learn how to create one.) Your Gravatar is also clickable and linked to your Gravatar Profile—meaning, you get some link love in return for appreciating others’ content. If you haven’t configured or updated your Gravatar Profile, you can do that by visiting Users -> My Profile in your Dashboard.

Over time and as the post grows in popularity, this can change into an outpouring of appreciation and a gallery of Gravatars showing the world that the post is completely amazing:

You can also manage your Likes using the toolbar that appears at the top of your screen while logged into WordPress.com. When viewing an individual post (as opposed to the blog’s home page, for example), you’ll see a Like button up there, too, like this:

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How to Unlike a Post

If you need to remove the Like from a post (i.e. “Unlike” the post), simply click the button again. Clicking the button will toggle the status.

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Reviewing Posts You Like

To review all the WordPress.com posts you’ve liked, click the Reader tab on the WordPress.com home page (be sure you’re logged in first), then select the Posts I Like tab:

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Likes and Your Site

By default, all WordPress.com blogs display the Like button under each post and display the gallery of Gravatars for bragging rights. This includes your site.

But, if you would prefer to keep these features off your blog posts, you can do so by visiting Settings -> Sharing.

Select the button that says Turned on per post, and click Save Changes. The like button will no longer appear when readers visit your posts. (The Like button will still appear in readers’ toolbars.)

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Turn Likes On/Off on Specific Posts

If you’d rather, you can turn off the like button for specific posts. When editing a post, find the Likes and Shares module (you might have to scroll down to find it). It will contain an option labeled Show likes on this post.

You can toggle this on or off, just like controlling comments and trackbacks. When you’ve set it, either publish or update your post to save the change.

If you don’t see the Likes and Shares module you may need to unhide it using the screen options link in the upper right hand corner of your dashboard. For more information on working with the screen options feature please see this support doc.

Still confused?

Contact support.