In April this year, Instagram took an interesting step and announced to hide the number of likes from the posts of users. This test was first introduced in Canada to see how people perceive it. Instagram is majorly dependent on likes on posts but this risky step was welcomed by people in general.
Users while sharing their opinion said by coming out of the games of like, they have been able to produce more quality content for their feed posts. However, some of the people can still view a number of likes by tapping through it.
Instagram said their intent was to encourage people to pay attention to the pictures and video they posts and not how many people liked it.
People were automatically added into this test, with an option of opting out of it. Company has not yet shared the results of this test showing how it affected people and their posting habits. Instead, the company decided to expand the test and six more countries are also included into it now, hinting that the results have been positive.
One of the users opens up saying she had stopped posting on Instagram but resumed after the test started. According to her, now she posts without the fear of being judged over the number of likes on her pictures or comparing likes with the number of pictures posted.
Users expressed their affirmation towards this new test saying people are more concerned over links received instead of picture itself. Now that links are hidden, their focus is mainly on the picture. Likewise, it was common to judge any picture through likes instead of the quality of the picture but this is has dropped the pressure of posting amazing pictures that could garner maximum likes.
A number of likes are considered as some kind of competition and gave many people insecurities. Often users shy away from posting their picture in fear of not getting enough likes but now they feel free to post pictures.
However, for public accounts or businesses, things are much alike as before. They can still view details about how many people unfollowed, number of likes and have other permissions to track their online engagements.
There had been contrary opinions as well, like the augmented reality face filter developer for Instagram, Brands Cardenas said after posting pictures of her workload, many people unfollowed her, giving her impression that people did not like her posts, whereas, in reality, those pictures received more likes than usual.
According to her, removing data or not showing whole information is not the solution to the problem, neither can it reduce the pressure.
Likes have always been an essential part of platforms like Instagram. The platform still thrives on it except that now users will not be able to see the number of likes. But many liked the new change and if it is widely rolled out, it could be one major change in years for the platform.
Read next: Study Reveals Social Media Causes Teen Depression
Users while sharing their opinion said by coming out of the games of like, they have been able to produce more quality content for their feed posts. However, some of the people can still view a number of likes by tapping through it.
Instagram said their intent was to encourage people to pay attention to the pictures and video they posts and not how many people liked it.
People were automatically added into this test, with an option of opting out of it. Company has not yet shared the results of this test showing how it affected people and their posting habits. Instead, the company decided to expand the test and six more countries are also included into it now, hinting that the results have been positive.
One of the users opens up saying she had stopped posting on Instagram but resumed after the test started. According to her, now she posts without the fear of being judged over the number of likes on her pictures or comparing likes with the number of pictures posted.
Users expressed their affirmation towards this new test saying people are more concerned over links received instead of picture itself. Now that links are hidden, their focus is mainly on the picture. Likewise, it was common to judge any picture through likes instead of the quality of the picture but this is has dropped the pressure of posting amazing pictures that could garner maximum likes.
A number of likes are considered as some kind of competition and gave many people insecurities. Often users shy away from posting their picture in fear of not getting enough likes but now they feel free to post pictures.
However, for public accounts or businesses, things are much alike as before. They can still view details about how many people unfollowed, number of likes and have other permissions to track their online engagements.
There had been contrary opinions as well, like the augmented reality face filter developer for Instagram, Brands Cardenas said after posting pictures of her workload, many people unfollowed her, giving her impression that people did not like her posts, whereas, in reality, those pictures received more likes than usual.
According to her, removing data or not showing whole information is not the solution to the problem, neither can it reduce the pressure.
Likes have always been an essential part of platforms like Instagram. The platform still thrives on it except that now users will not be able to see the number of likes. But many liked the new change and if it is widely rolled out, it could be one major change in years for the platform.
Read next: Study Reveals Social Media Causes Teen Depression
