Instagram started experimenting with hidden like counts back in April of the last year and since then it is one of the most talked-about development. Most people are confused about the reason Instagram is thinking of making this change whereas others have their own assumptions. To address this whole issue, Instagram VP Vishal Shah had a very interesting conversation with the social media industry commentator Matt Navarra. They not only explored the actual thinking of Instagram, the current projects that are still in pipeline, some of the upcoming featured along with how Instagram is seeing itself in the future. The overall, conversion was quite interesting and addressed everything that most of the people are wondering about when it comes to hidden like count.
Most of the people were looking forward to knowing what exactly was the reason for initiating the hidden like test anyways. The perception was that since most of the social media sites are now becoming more responsive towards the young users, it is a way to bring the best in people by removing the peer pressure and how many likes or engagement they are getting on their posts. However, Shah has revealed that a very well equipped team at Instagram has brought this into attention that bloggers, influencers and general users like to compete with the celebrities. They are running a rat race where they keep track of likes, engagement and shares also, they evaluate their productivity on the base of this engagement. If things don’t work out according to their plan, most users have seen deleting the already posted pictures. The team suggested that by making the likes hidden, they are bringing in a way that lifts up the general pressure of performance. With the help of this Instagram is encouraging people to post more, since there will be no way of seeking approval people can post wherever they want. Furthermore, this will help the bloggers and influencer to come out of the general race of likes and engagement.
To address the future plans, Shah also talked about the development of the Threads, which is the messaging app by Instagram. They are looking forward to expanding the message access to the desktop version and also aiming to expand the future of the app more.
Photo: Anatoliy Sizov via Getty Images
Read next: eMarketer predicts U.S. User Growth on Instagram to decline with time, drops down to 6.7% in 2019 from 10.1% in 2018
Most of the people were looking forward to knowing what exactly was the reason for initiating the hidden like test anyways. The perception was that since most of the social media sites are now becoming more responsive towards the young users, it is a way to bring the best in people by removing the peer pressure and how many likes or engagement they are getting on their posts. However, Shah has revealed that a very well equipped team at Instagram has brought this into attention that bloggers, influencers and general users like to compete with the celebrities. They are running a rat race where they keep track of likes, engagement and shares also, they evaluate their productivity on the base of this engagement. If things don’t work out according to their plan, most users have seen deleting the already posted pictures. The team suggested that by making the likes hidden, they are bringing in a way that lifts up the general pressure of performance. With the help of this Instagram is encouraging people to post more, since there will be no way of seeking approval people can post wherever they want. Furthermore, this will help the bloggers and influencer to come out of the general race of likes and engagement.
To address the future plans, Shah also talked about the development of the Threads, which is the messaging app by Instagram. They are looking forward to expanding the message access to the desktop version and also aiming to expand the future of the app more.
Photo: Anatoliy Sizov via Getty Images
Read next: eMarketer predicts U.S. User Growth on Instagram to decline with time, drops down to 6.7% in 2019 from 10.1% in 2018
