Instagram launched a test earlier this year which hid like count on posts. The test began in Canada where people who were a part of this test had their likes hidden by default. They had to opt-out of it in order to show the like count on their posts. They could always see the count on their own posts. Instagram is now expanding this test and giving more users in additional countries the option to publicly hide the like count on their posts.
Instagram announced today that this test is being expanded to Italy, Ireland, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Users can now take advantage of this feature and hide the public like counts on the photos and videos in their Feed, on the web, and in profiles.
The idea behind this is that people just “focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get,” at least that’s how Instagram describes it. People tend to attach enormous importance to the like count.
The success or failure of a post on Instagram is widely measured by the likes that it gets, not what it means to show. Having the like count hidden may encourage people to post content that they would otherwise not because they wouldn’t have to worry about people seeing that it didn’t get many likes.
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