The testing of hiding like counts on Instagram posts initially kicked off in Canada this year in April which soon became go-to news feed of every single tech blog and news channel out there.
And the hype was in the air for the fact that the alteration’s impact that the company brought about had some immense affect on what Instagram platform was known for- Likes (aka Hearts)!
But now, Instagram has officially made like counts private for a few users around the globe.
Instagram has made these alterations so as to stop the herd mentality that used to persist earlier where a post quite a generous number of likes was appreciated more than a post that received one or two.
It is for this reason Instagram decided to roll it out so its users appreciate all good, not what is trending.
Instagram said-
“Starting today, we are expanding our test of private like counts globally. If you are in the test, you will no longer see the total number of likes and views on photos and videos posted to Feed unless they’re your own”
The announcements came about just a week ago where Instagram additionally mentioned the positive feedback that it received while early testing of hiding like counts in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand.
As a result, the expansion took place even further so as to receive the global response.
Although initially, Instagram thought that it would expand hiding like counts in the U.S. from now on, it later announced that it would rather test it globally now to a small percentage of users.
I guess… the global rollout has a direct connections with company’s plans of rolling out this change to every Instagram user.
The Instagram company wants its users to focus on the content that they share on the platform rather than the number of likes they receive on the post.
During this particular trial, only the users who share the post would be able to see the overall amount of likes they received.
So assuming that you are in Instagram’s testing process, you would notice that your Instagram feed post misses a Like count on the left side that you usually used to notice.
Following the rollout, Instagram would still display a few faces and the name of other people who’ve liked it.
Moreover, users are additionally going to be alerted that only they would see their post’s like counts, while others won’t.
Removing like counts would create the whole experience appear more organic and genuine on the Instagram platform. Instagram users are going to feel more inclined to share what they want instead of concentrating on what may receive uppermost likes.
To add more…
People may likewise feel less inclined to delete a post whenever it does not measure up to a specific limit of likes.
Hence, turning Instagram into a much less of a fame contest.
The fundamental change of hiding likes counts would cut down on the sense of competition on Instagram since users won’t compare their personal counts with all those of more popular pals or superstar celebrities.
Additionally, it would motivate creators to upload what senses most authentic and genuine as opposed to attempting to acquire likes for everyone to notice.
Moreover…
Initially, many users used to delete their posts that didn’t immediately receive “enough” likes and posted those posts to their fake “Finstagram” profiles that they thought that they thought wouldn’t pick many hearts.
But Instagram has decided to change that!
The IG team is quite confident that following the update of taking away like counts, users are going to more excited to post a lot more and be a lot less self-conscious.
Although the upsides are something that brought a lot of appreciation to Instagram, a study via Hype Auditor is something that could raise concerns for the company.
Hype Auditor conducted this study among influencers with 5k-20k followers and found that the influencers lost their popularity from 3% to 15% following Instagram hid the like counts in their region.
Moreover, as the number of counts won’t be public, the marketing agencies would need to rely on screenshots that could be easily photoshopped to earn some extra deals.
And hence, it alarms the marketing agencies so as to find a way that could help them gauge the real engagement that these influencers receive.
To this, Instagram says- “We understand that like counts are important for many creators, and we are actively thinking through ways for creators to communicate value to their partners.”
Following the update, the marketing agencies won’t be able to verify a post got enough engagement to warrant payment since the likes would go private.
“Instagram may need to offer some sort of private URL, partner dashboard or API creators can share with agencies that reveal Like counts,” said Tech Crunch on its one of its recent posts.
According to CEO Adam Mosseri- Although the update could bring about less spending of money on the platform, the company is more focus on the user’s well being, health and happiness.
So let’s see how it goes now when global users face the change for the first time on the platform.
It is undoubtedly true that it would reduce pressure and herd mentality that used to air concerns initially, the fact that it would transfer power completely in the hands of creators is something that Instagram needs to tackle now.
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