Texting Etiquette

[Hotat53]

I'm back on the dating scene and it's going ok, met some nice and some less nice people as expected.
However things have changed a lot since I last did this - mobile phones for one thing.

I need some advice regarding messaging.

If someone replies to a message by just 'liking' it - does this count as them being the last person to message??

I've met someone who I really quite like and I think it's mutel. We message back and forth a few times in a day, maybe two or three times a week. He's pretty good at keeping a conversation going however sometimes he will just 'like' my message and I feel then that I should end the conversation at that point ( I don't want to look over keen).

Is this the polite thing to do?

Yes I'd say a like is almost a full stop. I wouldn't message again quickly afterwards.

Yeah, that's low effort and I wouldn't be messaging again in a hurry. Having said that, I sometimes send a heart emoji in response to something if I am genuinely busy and don't want to leave them on read. But I've been seeing my fella for over a month and we are consistent in chatting and near daily calls so it's a bit different. He knows I'm not fobbing him off and that I only do that if I am genuinely busy.
New person - don't message again until they do.

Yes don’t be that person who can’t hold a silence. I hate text conversations where the other person just keeps messaging back with ‘ok’ ‘great’ ‘fine’ ‘ok’ foreverrrrrr every time you message them. It’s awkward. Not as annoying as ghosters, eta.

Yeah it is definitely a full stop to the conversation. Fine IMO if you say something like looking forward to next seeing you less fine in response to something a bit more conversational either way I would send another message after that