How to Disable "I Like It" "Tags & Notes" in SharePoint 2010

'I Like it' and 'Tags and Notes' features are introduced in SharePoint 2010 to improve user collaboration, social communication capabilities and to enable users to provide their feedback on items, pages, etc. However, not all SharePoint environments requires this feature, so here are some ways to to remove "I like it" and "Tags & Notes" tag buttons from SharePoint 2010.
 
SharePoint 2010 disable "I Like It" "Tags and notes" at farm level:
If you want to remove "I like It" , "Tags & Notes" at farm level, follow these steps:

• Go to Central Administration >> System Settings >> Click on "Manage Farm Features"
• Deactivate "Social Tags and Note board Ribbon Controls"

Or you can disable by PowerShell

Disable-SPFeature –Identity SocialRibbonControl

To enable, use:

Enable-SPFeature –Identity SocialRibbonControl

Microsoft KB to turn off the "I Like It" and the "Tags & Notes" features in SharePoint Server 2010: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983263/en-US

While this change is instant and disables/enables social tags at farm level for all web applications, We can target this setting based on user group too. Here is how:

Disable social tagging permissions to specific users and groups:
You can also enable/disable social tagging feature for specific users or groups by removing them from the Use Social Features permission, which is part of the User Profile service application.

• Go to Central Admin >> Click on Manage Service Applications
• Pick your User Profile Service Application from the list
• Click on "Manage User Permissions" link under People section
• Select the user or group for which you want to turn off the "I Like It" and the "Tags & Notes" features.
• Under Permissions, click to clear the Use Social Features check box. and click OK.

It takes a minute (by a timer job!) and this setting is a cumulative (you remove permission from one group and you grant for one! Then the user will be able to see )


You can also use my solution How to Hide SharePoint 2010 Ribbon Tab - Group - Button - Menu to disable/hide/remove "I Like It" tags on particular site/site collection. It actually uses the "CustomAction" feature to hide those buttons.

Hide I Like It Tags & Notes using CSS:
Use IE developer toolbar or Firebug in Firefox to get the ID/Class of the tags, and set its visibility to none.
Place this css code in your SharePoint 2010 Master page, or custom style sheet, wherever applicable.

/* SharePoint 2010 hide i like it tags & notes CSS code */
<style type="text/css">
.s4-socialdata-notif
{
  display:none;
}
</style> 

SharePoint 2010 remove i like it cCSS
Unlike the above requirement, you may have to disable i like it button alone with CSS. Here is the  code: 

/* sharepoint 2010 hide i like it css */
<style type="text/css">

#AddQuickTag_ctl00_ctl36 {
display:none;
}
#AddQuickTagImg_ctl00_ctl36 {
display:none;
}
</style>

 
How about securing it : with SharePoint Security Trimmed Control? 
Edit your master page, Find:

<SharePoint:DelegateControl ControlId="GlobalSiteLink3" Scope="Farm" runat="server"/>

and move it inside:

<Sharepoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl runat="server" Permissions="ManagePermissions">

<SharePoint:DelegateControl ControlId="GlobalSiteLink3" Scope="Farm" runat="server"/>

</SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl>