Sadly enough over the past several years, Instagram has evolved into a platform in which a person’s worth is often measured by followers and likes.
This aspect has helped influencers and Socialites secure lucrative sponsorships; however, many experts believe this online popularity contest has had adverse effects on mental health, while some users have even lost their lives in the pursuit of likes and shares.
Instagram lead, Adam Mosseri, on Tuesday announced that the social network is going to test hiding like counts as a way to make the app “a less pressurized environment.” This test will begin later this week in Canada. Users will be able to see who liked a post, but it’ll be tougher to see how many likes a post has.
“We don’t want Instagram to feel like a competition,” he said.
Instagram wants people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.
Under the test which will start next week, the number of people who liked a post will no longer be shown. Instagramers will be able to look at who liked their own post if they choose to do so. Although, they won’t be able to see how many likes someone else’s post got unless they manually count them.
This test announcement comes as Instagram expands its efforts to combat online bullying, being a problem that plagues many of the app’s younger users.
The test will begin next week in Canada among a small percentage of users. The likes will no longer be seen on the main feed, permalink pages, or profiles; the only person who can see the number of likes will be the owner of the account.
Whether or not Instagram does remove Likes for all users will presumably depend on how Canadian users respond to the change.
The number of Likes on posts has become such an important metric in the exploding influencer industry that many people are finding ways to cheat and game the system. Believe it or not but some go as far as to pay hefty amounts of money for fake Likes by bot accounts.
This may be a good move for the App but a disadvantage for the Influencers who focus on likes to get lucrative product campaigns. Let’s see how the test performs, in the meantime let us know what you think of it.
