Instagram has announced that removing likes from posts does not depress users’ mental health or overall engagement with the platform. The move was made to remove the pressure of comparing likes to others, aiming to encourage more authentic content. However, Facebook has signaled that hiding likes may not have the intended impact if it doesn’t change the type of content posted.
The move to hide likes on Instagram has sparked debate, with some users appreciating the change and others arguing that it may bring the shady practice of buying fake likes to an end. Some brands may choose to hide their Instagram post likes to emphasize the value of their content and encourage genuine engagement from followers.
In an experiment with 280 Instagram users in the United States, Instagram found that hiding like counts does not prevent followers from seeing their activity. However, the app still tracks likes and uses them as a ranking signal for the algorithm.
In conclusion, the move to hide likes on Instagram has implications for both influencers and brands. While some users may appreciate the change, others may argue that it may not have the intended impact if it doesn’t change the type of content posted.
Instagram’s ‘Hide Like Count’ feature can be used to hide Instagram likes on posts, allowing users to gauge the popularity and engagement level of a post at a glance. However, this may lead to fewer metrics and less motivation for users to like a post. Instagram and Facebook may lose out on engagement metrics as users may be less motivated to like a post due to the popularity of others. Hidden likes may not impact the algorithm, but other factors could be affected. Instagram’s goal is to increase the volume of posts from users and reduce posts being deleted. However, hiding likes may not have a significant impact on engagement, as high numbers of likes can have a greater impact on negative affect. Instagram’s ‘Hide Like Count’ feature may also make users feel less self-conscious about their posts not getting much attention.
📹 Why is Instagram hiding your likes?
Instagram recently launched a test where some users’ ‘like’ counts were made private. A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns …
Is it better to have likes or views on Instagram?
Instagram likes. Likes have been a key metric on Instagram for a long time. Users like getting likes for their posts. Likes mean engagement, which leads to more reach and potential business for businesses. The number of likes a post gets shows Instagram that the content is good and should be shown to more people. This gets more users to engage with the post, which increases its visibility and engagement.
Instagram Views. Instagram views are the number of times a video is watched. Video content is more valuable now, and views show how well a video post is doing. Videos let businesses tell their story in a more engaging way. Video content lets viewers see your business in a different way and connect with your brand.
Why is my reach high but engagement low?
Not targeting your content correctly. Know your audience to engage them. If your engagement is down, your content might not be resonating with your audience. Research your audience and their interests and pain points. Tailor your content to address their needs. Not having a consistent posting schedule: Be consistent on social media. Not posting at the right times means you miss out on engagement. Schedule your posts to go out at the right times for your audience. If you need help, I have a free tool to get you started. It helps you figure out when to post and what to post. Loomly is another great scheduling tool that can help you get on track and free up your time. Read this blog post for more on how it can help with your strategy. Lack of visual appeal: Social media is about getting your audience’s attention. If your graphics or videos aren’t appealing, they won’t grab attention. Make sure your content, images, graphics, and videos are high-quality. Try different styles and formats to see what works. Use headlines and hooks to attract your audience. Not paying attention to your audience. Your audience’s feedback is important. If you ignore them, they’ll ignore you. Listen, respond, and engage with your audience. Use their feedback to improve your strategy. Not analyzing your metrics: Monitoring and analyzing social media metrics helps you understand what’s working and what’s not. Try different analytics tools to see what your audience is engaging with and when. Then you can improve your content and posting times. Lack of authenticity: If you don’t seem real, people won’t engage with you. It’s simple. People want to trust and relate to you. If your content feels generic or sales-driven, people probably won’t engage with it. Show them who you are and build a relationship. Building engagement takes time. There will be slower periods. Be patient, experiment, and be flexible. By figuring out why engagement is low, you can make changes to improve it. If you’re still struggling to figure out what’s causing your low engagement, we can help. Let’s strategize!
Why do influencers hide their likes?
More authentic content. Users can post what they want, not just content that gets the most likes. Without like counts, users will be more likely to share images and ideas that are important to them. They will also be more likely to interact with other users through comments and discussion. People feel better without the stress of always performing. They may also be less likely to broadcast beliefs on social media. The Atlantic wrote about the effects of moral grandstanding on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
The Cons. Hiding likes on social media has some downsides, mostly for users who make money from social marketing. Removing likes has some negative effects.
Does hiding likes lower engagement?
Removing like counts has some negative effects.
Fewer metrics – Removing like counts on posts makes it harder to measure engagement. Brands and marketers may lose out because users may not like a post just because everyone else does. It’s harder to see how well a post or page is doing, especially if you’re trying to measure against competitors. It also reduces the value of the service. The value of using Instagram could decrease with the elimination of likes. This could mean less revenue for influencers. It’s how brands gauge their effectiveness and make money. Most users are fine with hiding likes on social media. Most don’t care. Those who depend on engagement metrics for revenue care the most. However, as the founder of CreativeIQ says, brands don’t need likes because they can “tie sales performance to other, sharper performance indicators to evaluate brand awareness, customer engagement, and ambassador effectiveness.” The pros outweigh the cons for almost everyone in this scenario.
Do likes on Instagram matter?
#3: Engage followers with captions. Instagram says comments and likes affect feed ranking, so encourage them for your posts. One way to do this is… Write engaging captions. Ask your followers to share their thoughts, double-tap if they agree, tag a friend, or click the link in your bio. With Laters AI Caption Writer, you can create on-brand captions in seconds.
What decreases engagement on Instagram?
Low-quality content. Instagram is reducing the reach of low-quality content, which includes repurposed content without new value. If your Instagram account shares the same content over and over or uses content from other users without giving credit or adding original captions, you’ll see less engagement. Also, news content without clear sources could be hidden or removed on Instagram.
Bait for engagement. Instagram doesn’t ban engagement bait like Facebook does, but users dislike it. Engagement bait is when posts get users to interact with likes, shares, comments, etc. to try to get more likes, shares, etc. Posting this content could make users dislike your brand. Brands that have used “Like or Comment!” contests may have to change their approach on Instagram.
Remove bots. Since 2020, many Instagram users have seen their following and engagement drop due to bot and spam account removal. If your account was followed by spam accounts, this can have a noticeable impact. Instagram is asking users it thinks are spam to verify their identities. If they don’t, they might see less content in their feed or have their accounts disabled.
Is it better to hide likes on Instagram?
Reducing social bias and comparison. Hiding likes helps brands avoid social pressure and negative effects of social comparison. Understanding the algorithm: Hiding likes doesn’t affect how Instagram shows content. Brands can still reach their audience and optimize their content strategy while reducing the importance of likes. This lets brands evaluate content performance based on different engagement metrics. Likes are often seen as a meaningless metric that don’t show a brand’s real impact or marketing effectiveness. Turning off likes lets brands focus on more meaningful KPIs like engagement, impressions, reach, and conversions. Dash Hudson can help you report these metrics more easily. It also offers the Entertainment Score, which is especially useful in a world where people use social media to be entertained. Promoting wellness: Brands closely associated with mental health well-being hide likes because it aligns with their values and brand identity. It shows that the brand cares about a healthier digital environment and builds trust with its target audience. Removing the pressure to get likes makes the platform better for users. Brands can build trust and stronger connections with their audience by creating a more supportive atmosphere.
How to Hide Comments on Instagram. As Instagram grows, it’s an important platform for brands to engage with their audience. But with more activity, you have to manage comments on organic posts and ads. Best practices say every comment should be addressed, but sometimes offensive or inappropriate comments need to be hidden. Hiding comments on Instagram keeps the environment positive and respectful, so users can safely engage with content. Here’s how to hide comments on Instagram. Hide comments: Offensive comments are hidden automatically. You can change this setting at any time. Advanced comment filtering: Hide more offensive comments, but comments from people you follow will stay visible. You can change this at any time.
Why do I suddenly have no engagement on Instagram?
Instagram reach is low. This means fewer people see your posts, which limits engagement. This could be because you’re posting at the wrong times, using the wrong hashtags, having a low-quality or inactive following, or being affected by the Instagram algorithm. To reach more people, post more often, use more popular hashtags, grow your following, engage with them, and try different types of content. Boost your Instagram impressions and reach. 5 Proven Ways to Boost Your Instagram Reach and Impressions In this blog, we will explain how Instagram reach and impressions work and share five proven ways to boost your Instagram impressions and reach.
Does deleting Instagram posts hurt engagement?
Your other marketing channels also have consequences. Deleting low-engagement IG posts won’t improve your analytics. If you have links from your post to your website and vice versa, they won’t work when people visit your website and blog.
How do you hide engagement on Instagram?
How to hide likes on Instagram. Go to your profile and tap the three dots at the top right. Choose Settings and Privacy, then scroll to Like Count. Turn the toggle on or off. You’re done! How to hide likes on Instagram when creating a post. You can also hide the number of likes on your Instagram posts.
📹 Instagram is Hiding Likes and it’s STUPID
Instagram announced that it’s going to start slowly rolling out a feature where it no longer shows likes. Essentially, Instagram is …
This will be a psychological effect within the youngsters and and companies. On on other hand the idea is not bad, but they waited too long to make this test. For business it wilk cause a negative effect. The question is…why didn’t they ask the people 1st ?….we will have our eyes posted on instagram👀
I wish they would just make toggle on/off button if you want likes or not. That way you can choose to get likes or turn it off completely. With this update they are only gonna fix half the problem cause people can still see how many likes you get if they decide to count them manually, and trust me they do. It has become a war on Instagram now and it has lost its purpose for many years now.
People get me when they act so superior with their negativity about Instagram as if they are too intelligent,Awipes! Where else at your fingertips can you see terrific Photos of all sorts of interesting or beautiful things. When I give a LIke it’s not always just because I like the Photo but also because the Person posting it went to the trouble of sharing it, doesn’t matter to me if their being sponsored in some way at all, good luck to them.
I personally own two meme accounts @memestiiler + @laughpostin and I believe that this new thing ig are trialing is absolute rubbish. Ig is based on likes views and without this people will not be able to make money from what they love doing if they do it as a living and ig as a whole will lose a substantial amount of user.
The Developers Are allowed to do what they want I’m sorry but the truths always the best. It’s their social platform created by them rather support their Experiment Take away the ability the compare likes and you’ll feel less left out good on you Instagram And it can bring you closer to your family Less social media and more spending time with your family It can cause anxiety and sleep problems because you’re constantly concerned about how many likes you’re getting likes don’t make you anymore popular in real life only on the platform of social media
Yeah Instagram is a competition and we all are out here trying to get to that top image especially in fitness industry, comedians etc. Likes show the interest in posts. It shows how interested people are in your post. People that get no likes obviously post shit post or keep their profile on private n remain in the dark…. what do you expect. Every post I’ve seen with thought and meaning GETS LIKES. So there you go. Post more meaningful content that relates to you n you will get likes.
Based on the comment section, I don’t think I was clear on something… haha. 1) I think that Instagram hiding likes is GREAT for mental health reasons. It’s great in general, for general use. 2) I think that Instagram hiding likes is BAD for INSTAGRAM. I think it’s going to hurt the platform – not the people on it, but the platform’s growth, profit, and engagement levels.
I do believe that this is one of the best ideas proposed by Instagram so far. If your content is good you shouldn’t loose any value other than showing your photos without any likes (comments and engagement will still be there though). For me, the Instagram game was getting out of control. I’ve seen it in many examples, from “influencer” friends that have entered into an unhealthy mental state, to places that have been completely ruined by people in search of the like. So yes, it’s better to keep that info to yourself and for you to be your own judge pushing your own limits based on your own critique and not on community reassurance and validation. At the end you should be confident enough to trust on your creativity. Instagram is just another tool to put it out into the world and if it is good people are going to know and follow you. It’s just taking a number away from the feed. That’s my take. Thanks for the article!
it will have a positive effect on peoples self esteem, will make them more open to sharing what they want without the fear of getting less or more likes than their last post. in return cancelling social media insecurities and make it all about ENGAGEMENT and CONTENT !! its a good idea, only you will see your likes
Instagram is just using “mental health” as a pr cover. The real motive would be to keep people on the app. Because of the envy that can be generated around like comparison between, yourself and others is causing envy, depression, stress, etc and because of that those users don’t want to engage on that platform which translates to less money for Instagram from ad revenue. Also this does nothing for the person who isn’t necessarily comparing, but is seeing very few likes on their photos and upset about that, they should honestly just give users a toggle, likes on or likes off
Really happy to see someone finally saying this. Everyone is too caught up in the theoretical anti bullying and mental health PR statement to realize how unrealistic those great expectations are. Outside of the fact that the ‘stress’ of IG will just shift to other metrics like comments or followers, I completely agree that the engagement will just plummet. Why bother liking a post no one will see it? And of course if no one is liking a post, it’ll just get buried and the reach will drop. And even if you think people will ‘feel better’ that other people can’t see bad numbers, you can’t get around the fact that we will still see the post do terribly, still causing you to feel like shit about it lol. IG is 100% aiming to get more people to boost posts, but even if you don’t care about their greediness I still can’t understand why anyone would think its more enjoyable for your success to be hidden.
NZ was one of the trial country too and I find it frustrating for a smaller creator who is trying to grow organically. I take pride (used to anyway before this whole thing) of the fact that even if I have small following, I have great engagement results. It’s been a key point that I emphasised when I approached brands/people/companies. For sure I can still share my analytics results or for brands to see from other apps like you mentioned. But it’s not so obvious anymore now. I noticed how my engagement patterns suddenly changed before this whole thing kicked off. First, my engagement dropped, no matter which hashtags I was using or time of posting based of my analytics. It seemed I was only getting engagements from my current followers only. So it’s such a guessing game now on how to grow organically in this platform. I am actually thinking of being off the platform for few months because I am seeing less and less of a point posting in IG. On the mental health point, every person is responsible for their own mental health. It’s bollocks if we have to depend our mental health on what a corporate thinks it’s good for us. Great content as usual 👍👍
As a Canadian resident, I’ve been on the new scheme for a while now. I’ve not noticed any change in my habits. I have no issue or concern over the change. I expect that the ‘like-chasers’ will still get credit for the efforts. I’m not sure that many get a dopamine hit liking someone else’s image and the poster still sees those likes, so they can still ride their high, if that’s their thing.
Very interesting article Brendan. Just trying to digest what you said. When I first noticed the lack of likes on my feed I felt a bit lost, but then when I noticed I could see them privately I didn’t mind the system change. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was an influencer like you. One point you made about IG fraud is really bad. The thing I hate even more (I think you spoke this previously) is the theft of creators content. I did a check on a few new followers this week and most just stole photos without credit and even left watermarks. As usual great article. Look forward to the next one
Great to hear your thought on this. I have a slightly different take on it. As a user, you’ll still get notified when someone likes your photo, so you still get that dopamine hit. Big creators will be negatively impacted, but for the average user I think it’s a positive move – and I reckon it’ll encourage more posting rather than less… it takes away what holds a lot of smaller creators back from posting more often – that question of “is this good enough to post?”.
Not sure this has hit my Instagram yet. I was confused by the title and I thought they were removing 250 or 1000 likes from people’s photo’s (fairness doctrine). I still see the counts on photos from others, but honestly that doesn’t hinder or encourage me to like a photo. I still see the counts on my own photos and yes, I want to know what people think, but I still like my photos regardless of the like count. I’ve had photos where the count was high and I honestly thought “you all really like THAT one versus the one yesterday?!”
For Brendan and a bunch of the people who have been on instagram for a long time, it’s something that we’ve seen the effects of for a long time now. Facebook bought instagram in 2012 and they were making no money at all at that time.. By 2015 they were a billion dollar company selling ads.. Sometime around that time they began restricting organic reach as you talked about in this article with Facebook… This was hidden from most people by getting rid of the chronological feed and suggesting that they were improving content…. At the time I thought this would be a good thing and that my photos would do even better than they did before (being at least a little better than average)…. Most accounts that you can look at will show about a 50 percent drop in engagement between 2013 and 2017 no matter who you are, how good your content is, etc… Look back on your own account to confirm… If you stayed anywhere near a baseline during that time, it’s probably due to an explosion in your follower count (probably related to your sucessful Youtube website)… Look at your account and almost anyone else on Instagram… Before the changes it was pretty common to get engagement of 20-40 percent of your followers… Now most people are lucky to get ten… I played along and worked harder… My images got better, but the account was falling… I decided that i must have too many ghost followers, so I used one of those apps to get rid of them…. I thought that would increase my engagement and the algorithm would become my friend again.
Ive got a article to edit where I mention mental health and social media but I agree with you that hiding it should be good BUT the issue is that you can still get the crap feeling when you see your image hasn’t done well. I doubt it’ll work to help you find new content as the search page will still be filled with high traffic share pages. Alternative motive is probably real reason behind it but I don’t know if hiding likes will help mental health at all as doesn’t remove the feeling of “lack of likes” but maybe it’ll stop you worrying about others seeing your “failure” … (I’ve said “failure” because inevitably that’s how you perceive it, even if the image is a banger)
BVS, great article and agree with you on the negative impact this could have for the platform. Your thoughts re: ulterior reasons for the change are very interesting. My opinion on the mental health angle is that if Instagram was serious about this the likes would be hidden from both the creator and viewer. This would definitely be the death of the platform though
I would like to think that it’s it’s all to do with mental health but unfortunately I totally agree with you it’s going to be for another motive and it’s always usually money. But I think you’re 100% right on your points I think it over time will kill the platform. Especially for new creators coming to the platform because I remember when I first started an Instagram page and it encourage me to post more when I saw people engaging with my platform.
But Brendan, it’s just hidden to the public eye. We can still see the likes on our posts. Brands still want to see analytics. And isn’t this better for other smaller creators on Instagram? And if someone’s creativity juices take a hit due to people not seeing their likes is that really a bad thing? Shouldn’t we be creative for our own rather than for instant gratification. I don’t know. I think this is a good thing. (Except if IG does want you to boost post in the future then we’re all doomed) Still love your content, my man. I just can’t agree with you on this one. Looking forward to the new vids! 🙂 EDIT: didn’t realize the name was automatically corrected. My bad, dude. 😅
Seems like a repeat of what happened on FB is going to happen on IG and it is about paying for exposure, no question. I have a FB page with 25k followers and through each milestone figure, 5k, 10k, 15k etc I noticed a drop in reach from the previous figure/band and an increase in ads asking if I wanted to boost posts. I don’t know if they (FB) thought I was a business and would be willing to pay for ads but as an amateur who sold the odd print there is/was absolutely no way I was going to pay to boost a post in return for what would be some likes at most. I ended up not posting on FB for a long time and almost solely posted on IG instead. I’m lucky in that I’m not a business who needs the exposure but then I guess the argument there is there is no such thing as a free lunch or free advertising platform/space in this case, just because you’ve become accustomed to what a platform provided to get you using it doesn’t mean that platform cannot change the rules when they want, whenever they want.
You miss the point. The likes being removed public is good. The followers can be fake. The analytical data will show fake accounts. The mental health side is a real problem. Especially amongst teens. They really post with the expectation that they will get lots of likes. Without a business or creator account personal accounts will have those stats hidden. I’d argue that the lack of likes being shown would allow you to take photos for the love of taking photos. Not just to please the algorithm.
Hmmm…Canadian (and fellow Alberta) here and I still see likes for other Canadian posts on my feed and on my own posts. I would agree, this sounds like there is a business reason in this wrapped up in something altruistic. The company doesn’t have the best track record these days therefore the skepticism seems valid. If this helps curtail some of the games being played I’d be for it. If it legit hurts real small business owners or freelancers providing a legit service then that seems negative. As for posting for creative reasons only there are other platforms like maybe EyeEm where I feel like it’s less about “getting likes so I can make money or get into places free” vs posting creative or fun things. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress.
I wish I could give you two thumbs up for this article. I too, thought Instagram had ulterior motives. I have also noticed that in the past month one of my other Facebook page’s reach has significantly dropped for no known reason. I have complained to Facebook at least seven times and showed them supporting data to backup my complaints. Of course, I got the standard response of “we are working on the problem”. However, if I pay to boost, there seems to be no problem. Both platforms are owned essentially by the same parties, but are separate entities and entitled to operate differently. But, to use the “public health/welfare” angle as reasoning when there may be ulterior money making motives is just poor public relations. I guess we will wait and see what happens next.
I tend to agree about this move being an another motive and would ask where is their evidence of this being for the reason stated. As you said, they are a business and the decision taken will be more to do with commercial reasons rather than being from a point of social responsibility. Good discussion BvS and killer closing comment about removal of likes from FB
Hi Brendan. For me, looks like Instagram isn’t any more a good place to share photography, now is more about have an Instagrammer way of life (nice grid, stories, igtv…). Do you see another website where photographers can have a place to share their photos and create a good community to talk about, since looks like Flickr and 500px are a little bit dead?
Nah man, any influencer worth anything will have the analytics to back it up. Just because it’s not displayed to the public means nothing to companies. The only people that are hurt here are people who bought likes and followers because it forces companies to look at the actual analytics instead of follower count. If you’re on Insta for dopamine hits, then you should be off Insta. I get you don’t like this, but this is for the best. The fact that you said brands don’t do the work means this forces them to do the work, which again, is a good thing.
You still see the Likes on your own photos. You don’t see the Likes on others, so you never compare. More people are feeling sad because they don’t have the same likes as their friends, but you will still see the likes on your own work. That way the dopamine hit is still there, but you don’t feel like you’re lesser to someone else if you’re not an influencer. This will also stop people purchasing likes, because why would you?
I actually think it’s a step in the right direction. You essentially said, “removing likes might be good for life and the general public”… Don’t you think that’s more important than the success of a business? The “addictive” nature of the internet, in general, is an issue that we have been dealing with for a long time, and things aren’t getting any better. Do you really need stress to motivate your creativity? I think not. I think what you are really referring to is the drive to grow a business or brand. IG should be a platform for the public to share, not for businesses to market. Thanks for starting a good discussion.
Very interesting article. A key point to note is that a person focussed on likes can still check this but yes, they can’t show them off to others, so this may affect their engagement with the platform. However, from a societal point of view this is a good idea. Maybe IG aren’t being genuine about their motives but who cares? Social media is potentially toxic and anything to reduce this toxicity is a good idea. If ‘influencers’ are feeling less driven to create because of likes, they were doing it for the wrong reasons in the first place! An extrinsic motivation is always going to be weaker than an intrinsic one. Create & share because it makes you FEEL good to do so, not because recognition from others makes you feel good. I realise this may sound ‘preachy’ it isn’t meant to. I am genuinely interested in the discussion and how we collectively may address the issues of social media.
I’ve researched the effect of social media on the brain and have found a growing concern by scientist that see social media as the cause of increased depression and suicide. I believe Insta is trying to get ahead of this by driving the social part of social media. Comments lead to an interactive experience and increased screen time while removing the knee jerk reaction of simply hitting like. Did you really like the post? Did you read the caption? Are we really considering the content? Although my photos and articles are ametuerish at best, I work hard at them. A thoughtful comment means more than a like to me. Facebook’s brand was brought down by the selling of our info and allowing fake information on it’s platform. I believe Instagram is just trying to show it made an effort before the wave of news stories hit entitled ” Is Instagram killing our children” which are already starting to pop up. Sorry for the length comment. It’s just my opinion…I could be wrong.
The number of likes is hidden in Brazil for a couple of weeks, I think we were in the first batch hit with this change. I can still see the number of likes on my own posts, but not on the photos in my news feed. I understand that the idea behind this is that a like should be a personal choice, not something induced because I see that hundreds of others liked something, so I am supposed to like it as well. In the end, hiding the number of likes may turn into a better indicator of people’s affinity with the creator.
I think you’re conflating two things: hiding likes from viewers and the algorithm. I’m in Canada, so you can’t see how many likes I get. But I can easily see that. But that has nothing to do with engagement. I believe Instagram has tweaked the algorithm so that fewer people see the posts. I notice that I don’t see posts from people I follow. I go looking for them and realize I haven’t seen their stuff in months. But they’ve done this before, even when you could see likes. IG and FB are businesses. The free ride is over. It’s pay to play.
Boils down to general pushback against the social giants for optimizing towards engagement. That has created a lot of the algorithmic issues and behavioral problems they’re now dealing with. They’re also starting to realize, via Newsfeed etc, that it also drives users off the platform eventually and long-term reduces engagement and usage. But the primary reason for this? I’d say it’s TikTok.
Wonder if the issue is Facebook wants to cut off sponsors that pay creators without involving Facebook – like artists that get sponsored by let’s say squarespace 🙂 No more like metrics will make it harder for brands to find genuine influencers or make the brand feel they are investing in the right influencers. They want all the $ to go through them.
When somebody like instagram changes something its for a reason, and that reason is money, like speed cameras, does anybody believe they are there for public safety or are they there to bring in revenue, something changes and people wonder why, its because theres a financial incentive to it somewhere…people like this dont do something for nothing, and to says its related to mental health is just cruel in my honest opinion….you want to do something for mental health, help people to access professional help not pay lip service, or indeed publish lies
Interesting topic. Good insights Brendan. I’m in Canada so I’ve experienced his new strategy for some time now. Note: I can still see who liked my stuff it’s just that no one else can. I liked it better before, because I found some cool people to follow, by seeing who was liking things I also liked. Somehow I cannot help but think this just IG trying to claw back the scope and breadth and reach of their offering to us common serfs – as would seem to be the trend.
When I see someone’s hidden likes I just think it looks ugly. It literally says “(a name) and others” that just makes me want to skip the post. It looks worse imo. Plus I think “is it that serious to you?” On one hand I can understand the self esteem concerns but at the same time it seems silly to me. It’s a tricky one tbh.
Brendan is totally right – Instagram just needs there to be ONE option for boosting nd promoting – their option 🙂 I am developing a brand-new business account on IG as well as trying to rebuild an account that was taken down at 10K, so this whole thing is truly read to my heart… My broken beat-up heart LOL It’s super clear when you think about it – Instagram makes money for Paid Promotion posts, Influencers also make money for Paid Promotion posts, using Likes and Follows to leverage and justify their fees. And this revenue stream does absolutely NOTHING for Instagram, just people making money ON Instagram’s back. That is really why they are doing it. They just don’t really like the fact people are making a lot of money off of their platform without paying IG their dues INSTEAD of using boosted posts and other IG tools for the same thing. Cheers from Bulgaria, Brendan! Dropping the truth-bombs for real!
Likes have been gone for more than a week now in Oz. So far I hate it. I used the number of likes as an easy way to see how big an account was. I’m more likely to engage with or like photos of a user with a small following than a huge. Why give someone with 20000 likes another like when someone with fewer than 200 might benefit from the engagement. BTW we can still see the likes on the browser version of insta.
I think it’s a good move. Probably 60+% of Instagram users like a photo based on the amount of likes that photo has already, just because of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), because they don’t want to be either the weirdo liking it or the wierdo not liking it. I think that maybe this way people will focus more on quality again.
In my opinion instagram change is ONLY about the money…. Removing likes will mean influencers can’t show anymore how much influence they have so companies will be forced to advertise through instagram and not through influencers. Second reason: if you remove the likes, small accounts will post more, therefor more time spent in the app resulting in more chances of seeing advertising and clicking on it. Removing the likes will also make people comment more, therefor more time spent on the app so this means…again, more chances of seeing advertising! Yes, this may be good for small accounts to not fear posting what they want, but this is not the main reason instagram is doing all this.
I respectfully disagree, I did (am still doing) a “IG detox” & once I heard about this new update possibly being permanent, it actually sparked my interest for IG again. It wouldn’t discourage me from posting, I’d probably post more/be more consistent. IG also intends to launch (or has already launched, I’m not sure bc I’m still not active on IG yet) a “Instagram Creator account”; an upgraded version of the “business account”. I think that will be useful to creators/influencers. I’m looking forward to that update, as well. I understand your points tho, I respect them. When you touched on brands/companies, I feel that’s on THEM. If they’re not willing to vet their influencers that they use, that’s on them. It’s absolutely despicable on the influencers behalf, of course, but “faking it to make it” knowing there’s no repercussions for it, obviously won’t deter those low-life ppl. So until there’s actually penalties for it, ppl will always continue to “abuse the system”, IG or otherwise. & my take is that, they single out Instagram bc more “young people” use IG than FB. IG is the largest social media platform (next to YouTube). If polled to choose just ONE social media app/platform, most (kids/teens, ppl in general) would choose IG.
I think this could make things worse for mental health. I am from Australia and only have a handful of followers and don’t even use Instagram much at all but after perusal your vid I had a look and realised the couple of pics I posted that were liked by a few no longer showed me but when I checked other peoples it is telling me their pics are liked by (A Name of someone) and others. Like I said this will only make things worse for mental health because it is going to make people feel like no one is liking their pics but liking others. Personally I don’t care if no one likes my pics I post them because I do. Cheers
I disagree for this reason: if ppl were posting solely for likes then they were never a creator, but simply an entertainer. Maybe Instagram is trying to get back to highlighting creativity. Then again, it could be so they can charge you for that boost like you pointed out. They could also be about to roll out a feature like hype auditor though and they’ll charge for that.
If I look at your photos, it doesnt matter what other people like. I dont need to see how many people like your photos….with seeing the likes it influences someone to like it but the new format the owner gets to see the likes not others…..if your likes go down then others werent swayed to vote for your photos….I think its the best thing Instagram did…….and why do you care about other people on Insta..
the only thing i like about instagram is having all my fav photos all together, i have to # to get many likes otherwise its just my friends and the few followers ive gotten from # ing, likes are quite often just a popularity competition, if your pop(ular you could post a rubbish shot and still get heaps of likes, some ppl post epic shots and get f all
I think it’s stupid to hide likes. The worst problem is all the idiots that start follow you and unfollow two days later. To get 5000 followers they follow 5000 and never ever look at the pictures of those 5000 people. It’s unpossible to follow 5000 people. They probably don’t care about likes either, they only want a lot of stupid followers.
its not stupid . people are so obsessed with likes these days and are more likely to LIKE a photo if it has More likes . and people dont focus on the content . now people with less followers and less Likes on their photo will start getting noticed more and people will actually like that persons content for their, well content and not popularity . i think its a great idea. how many times did i say Like . lol
I am really beginning to think this instagram thing is all a bit childish in my opinion. How about more young people get off social media sites and start working. Maybe stop worrying about not getting enough likes, constant selfie shots/ narcissistic behaviours and do something productive. These generations are so unprepared for real life issues. Mommy boo hoo I didn’t get enough likes on my instagram……well son its time to grow a set and grow up. Hope you liked that one. Cheers.
the way you are thinking about it, makes me question you as a photographer… it all sounds a lot like “mimimi first world problems” … “people won’t like photos as much…” – geez, how fake can it get? if you actually like a photo, you’ll double tap it and there shouldn’t be a motive behind it. people who think otherwise made the whole platform toxic. ppl get addicted easily these days. maybe this will help, maybe it won’t. it’s worth a try. kids are actually crying (and I mean real tears, absolutely heartbroken young kids) because of their social media and instagram is a huge part of it. yet ppl like you are worrying about what exactly? money? “people cheat on instagram” … the fact that you are actually thinking about that and make it sound like it’s a problem that some ppl seemingly no real purpose in life spend money on a fake online personality just makes you a part of the whole scheme. take good pictures and share them. what else can you do as a photographer?
It’s normal that a big Instagram fish like you don’t like the change as it strikes your wallet. I’m not an expert in mental health but I believe this change is great for small creators – people may start to notice them as they won’t be ‘liking’ the image simply because it has a ton of ‘likes’ so it must be good even if it’s not. Instead the general public will be liking what they actually like. So people like you won’t like it what is understandable but I think it’s a really good change. Peace! 😉