Why Instagram hid the likes count in 7 countries

Recently, a new Instagram update was released in Canada and 6 other countries, including Brazil, in which the number of likes is hidden. Users can continue to like the images, but only the author of the post has access to the number of likes the image has received. So what will be the results of this change?

Here in the awesome.club we try to guess what consequences the changes in Instagram policy may bring. Who will win and who will lose?

Instagram was considered the most harmful social network for users’ mental health. It can cause depression, anguish and complexes. Many users want to improve their appearance in photos and videos because natural images get less likes which are the indicator of popularity. Even celebrities suffer from it.

According to the youth association Girlguiding, from Great Britain, the social network could introduce special marks that would show that the photo was modified in FaceTune or Photoshop applications. Instagram did not support this initiative but decided to conduct an experiment and hide the number of likes to create a more friendly and relaxing environment on the social network.

Some people will stop comparing themselves to celebrities who have millions of followers and will lose their fear of being ignored. This can increase the amount of photos that users previously didn’t want to post because of popularity indicators. This idea can stimulate the creation of new authentic projects, with more natural and vivid photos.

The social network explains that the function of hiding likes was introduced so that users could start to feel more comfortable and express their ideas without relying on likes and other people’s opinions, which could create the impression of false involvement.

We already wrote a post about the price of a post from popular Instagram influencers. Despite the fact that likes have become a kind of “currency”, the attitude towards such people has been changing lately. In 2016, for example, a blogger could rest in a luxurious hotel or receive an expensive product just for two photos on Instagram, but today that is different, interest has decreased a lot because of the monotonous advertisements that saturated the market and drove away sponsors.

Advertisers’ reaction is still unclear, but this could leave popular brands relying on world-renowned celebrities to work with for the long haul. So if you’ve been dreaming of overtaking Kylie Jenner, who earns around R$500,000 for a post, today is not the best day to start.

In addition, in 2016 Instagram introduced analytical tools that show special profile data, which led to the creation and sale of bots and likes. To solve this problem and detect fake users, the social network started the experiment with the number of likes.

Thus, users who bought likes and followers will suffer the most, because comments are very likely to become the new indicator of popularity. Of course, you can buy comments on the parallel market, but you should bear in mind that it is a more expensive product and not everyone can buy it.

Despite everything, even hidden likes will continue to influence the popularity of posts in the feed. If followers unlike the post, all of the user’s original content will appear in the feed more rarely. To remain visible and make their posts known worldwide, bloggers will have to attract attention in new and original ways. Representatives of the social network say that this situation can improve the quality of posts and urge users to be more attentive when viewing photos on Instagram. People will write more comments and spend more time on the social network.

And for you, are likes an important indicator or not?