I thought about this. This very thing.

It struck me that it might be nice to recommend in a more specific way to those who already know me. In other words, I like something, I give it a heart. Great. If you know me, somehow (either through AI “recognition” or following, or whatever). You get to see what the recommendation means to me, ie. a heart means I like it enough to recommend it to anyone, a “star” (or whatever) means I think people who follow me might like it, a smile means it made me laugh, an exclamation point means I think Medium staff should recomend it, etc. Don’t know if it’s workable. Definitely feels a little facebook-y.