Likes

On most social media sites, which includes anything which can be jointly read by a widescale number of people, "likes" serve as a form of validation.  Posts and content with a higher number of likes are given more visibility, because algorithms, for all their evils, prioritise content that receives approbation.  More likes push content to the top of feeds and suggests its importance to other.  The more likes a post receives, the more likely it's going to be seen by a large audience.

Further, likes are evidence that a reader has actually engaged with content.  Liking a post requires minimal effort, yet it shows support, agreement, or simply to acknowledge that the content has been seen.

For content creators, like myself, likes serve as a feedback mechanism.  It acts as an encouragement for more product.   For a creator, the opinions of the reader are of great importance.  So please, in addition to giving your support in so many other ways, please consider taking a moment when you see something I've posted on Patreon and press the like button.  It may seem unimportant, but every metric matters.  Every vote counts.  In the long run, it could make a very big difference in the number of people I'm someday able to reach.