Instagram Extends Hiding ‘Like Counts’ Test Globally

Welcome to "The Outwrite Podcast". This article is published on www.theoutwrite.com by Varun Singh Rajput. In the morning, I prefer to check the responses on my Instagram Business account and somehow noticed that the likes count and video views aren’t visible. I checked other Instagram accounts, and couldn’t see likes count for any other one too. However, it’s possible to check the likes count on your own posts, if you dig into the insight. It took me 30 seconds to recall and realize that Instagram must have expanded their initial testing started in July to more global accounts including mine. The objective is clearly to divert the focus of followers from likes count to actual content getting shared on this platform. It looks like a positive initiative and initial feedback seems to be strongly in favour. Instagram announced it officially through Twitter that ” Starting today, we’re expanding our test of private like counts globally. If you’re in the test, you’ll no longer see the total number of likes and views on photos and videos posted to Feed unless they’re your own”. It’s been said that the feedback from their early testing in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand has been positive. The Facebook-owned brand further states that this is a fundamental change to Instagram, so they’ll continue their test to learn more from the global community. Instagram made a couple of more tweets, one is to reassure “influencers” who may have a serious impact due to this change. In paid partnership, the count of likes and video views do matter a lot and play a deciding factor for financial closure. That’s the reason, Instagram tweeted “In addition, we understand that like counts are important for any creators, and we are actively thinking through ways for creators to communicate value to their partners.” It would help the company to buy some confidence among influencers as well. According to me, it’s a great step forward to reduce mental stress, especially among teens. There was always pressure to match the likes count as compared to others, which led to buying fake likes – somewhere failing the purpose of Instagram. It was originated for photographers to share their work, but now causing mental health issues due to community pressure and a shift from the original goal. We do need to keep in mind that it’s still a test, not the confirmed change however I am sure Instagram would inbuilt this feature soon instead of reversing it and facing heat from the global community. Thanks for your time, please share your valuable feedback & comments - our email address is: [email protected].