Do Twitter likes actually matter?

Can somebody with a ton of Twitter-skills please explain to a Twitter-noob how and why I should use Twitter likes?

I am new to Twitter, not even a full month of daily tweeting at twitter.com/jansroka , and I am baffled by the usage of Twitter likes. I read that people use them very differently (some more, some less, some all the time), but that they are actually important. Well, are they?

I seem to get an instant like for every mention or retweet, often so fast that I think it is automated (is that a thing? should I as well?), what good is a twitter like if they are used on basically every tweet?

If you can shed light on this little Twitter mystery, I'd appreciate any insight into this down below 👇.

Thanks!