Generally no.
A few larger companies do.

Am I alone in not carding about about inter-series continuity?

Not a criticism. Just wondering if I’m the odd one?

Mastodon doesn’t have Likes at all.

The star you’re referring to is Favorite. Those go into your Favorite list. So you can refer back to them more easily.

The current version with reversed colors, is all that’s needed. I wouldn’t change it beyond that.