Instagram is Getting Rid of Like Counts
Facebook is on the move to hide the number of likes on Instagram users’ posts to tackle issues like a popularity contest and bullying. For several months now, Instagram has been testing this service in a number of countries, including Canada, Brazil, Japan, and Australia.
Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and influential social media apps of today. Likes can also be an indication of the number of followers a user has. This implies the amount of interest, attention, and overall popularity of that user. This value has come to be of significant importance for users in social media to the point there is pressure in uploading a photo. People even care about when they should upload a photo because there are certain times of the day when users press the “like” button the most. It’s as if there is a fear of not receiving as many likes as their previous posts. The consequence is that people will become self-conscious when uploading their posts.
Perhaps this new service will help resolve that matter and improve user self-esteem. However social media has unfortunately devolved into a popularity contest. Facebook is trying to change that.
This effect gives Facebook another motive to take this action, a more strategic purpose to help the business. The idea is that by hiding the number of likes shown on posts, people will become less self-conscious for posting photos, and hopefully, there will be more posts. More active users on Instagram means more ads to be exposed to and an overall improved business model. Instagram is trying to make their service as engaging as possible. A better environment for users to engage with the platform means that brands will be more attracted to promote their products on Facebook. To Facebook, this means more profit and more opportunities for users to engage with their platform, which would again, attract more brands. It’s a cycle that enlarges the company’s position in the social media industry.
According to Facebook’s hypothesis, there should certainly be more posts uploaded with less amount of pressure. While removing likes may seem to only produce positive results, one of Facebook’s former employees disagrees. He states that removing the number of likes could hurt celebrities and influencers on Instagram.
Celebrities and influencers gain benefits from something called the “like momentum,” which is a phenomenon in which a user may like a post because they notice that one of their friends liked it or because they see a high like count. Therefore, hiding the number of likes could disrupt this phenomenon. It would reduce the motive for influencers to upload content, decrease engagement in their activities, and reduce the amount of promotion for products. With brand promotion being of large importance to Facebook’s business, this new policy seems to be quite risky.
All in all, this new service on Instagram may have a good motive, but since it is still in it’s testing stages, we don’t know what kind of consequences it may have in the future. Although it may hurt the celebrities who profit based on the number of likes they receive, I doubt that it will be to the point that they won’t be able to function on Instagram as influencers. There is a need to reduce pressure and competition in social media, and this action may be the first step in doing so.
