Instagram will be hiding likes internationally

by WF Will Administrator
14 replies
Instagram announced a few months ago at the F8 Developer Conference that they would start doing a limited test run in Canada on hiding your post likes.

According to Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram), they "want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they're getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about".

There has been a lot of mixed opinions regarding this change but it looks like Instagram will be moving forward regardless.

It was officially confirmed this week that the Canada Wide Test has ended and they will now begin hiding likes internationally in 6 or more countries.

The countries that this test will start with are:
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Brazil
  • Australia
  • New Zealand.
I came across a tweet from a blogger @adamliaw and definitely lean more towards his perspective.




Facebook has been pushing their ads a lot more lately, so creating this initiative to "de-influence" influencers to push advertisers to reallocate their ad spend on the Ad Platforms makes sense.

And as a lot of people have mentioned, likes can still seen by the user itself, so it doesn't look like this would really help in regards to people worrying less about their likes.

What do you think about the removal of post likes?
#ads #facebook #hiding #instagram #internationally #likes #social media
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  • Profile picture of the author sgalla414
    I'm not too sure which side of the fence I fall on for this topic. As a business account you can still see your insights. From a user perspective i'm not sure weather or not someone else has "liked" a photo has any bearing on weather or not I will like it. Photos that are liked will still show up on a persons Follower Feed. A like is one metric but I think a better metric for measurement is engagement. Id rather less people like a photo if it meant more people would engage that photo.
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    • Profile picture of the author palmtreelife
      Id rather less people like a photo if it meant more people would engage that photo.
      What do you mean by engagement? Likes is a form of engagement, so are you hoping for more comments and actual conversation if the number of likes decreases?
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      • Profile picture of the author sgalla414
        Originally Posted by palmtreelife View Post

        What do you mean by engagement? Likes is a form of engagement, so are you hoping for more comments and actual conversation if the number of likes decreases?
        Yes. Ask questions, tag a friend, bookmark, share or tag me in their stories. That is more valuable than a single like and then continue scrolling in my opinion. It takes 0.2 seconds to double tap on someones content but requires much more time to do any other way of engaging.
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  • Profile picture of the author palmtreelife
    Interesting move by IG here. There are many angles to this simple move and it will be interesting to see how IM's adapt as they always so cleverly do.

    I don't think hiding likes will prevent me from liking a photo. I actually tend to continue scrolling when I see a photo has thousands of likes. I'm more likely to like a photo that has a lower like count because I FEEL like my engagement (like) is more meaningful for that user.

    The same goes for comments as well. I want the OP and other followers to reply to my comment or answer my question, so I'm less likely to comment on a post with thousands of comments because it will just get lost in the shuffle. I get a kick out of hate comments in a thread of thousands upon thousands of comments like they think someone relevant will see their hatred and engage with them.

    If the OP can still see the number of likes, although it may not be as many as before, the numbers can still provide relevant data for ad campaigns. They can still see which posts are receiving a better response and adapt accordingly.

    This does make things a little more difficult for up and coming IM's as they (we) rely on likes and comments on influencer posts to help determine what works well and what doesn't work so well. What's popular and what's not. Relying on comments alone will not provide as much concrete insight.

    When technology shifts, those who adapt best will win. Those who are stubborn and complain will lose. This is just another one of those changes, so let's see who adapts best.
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    • Profile picture of the author WF-Cody
      Originally Posted by palmtreelife View Post

      When technology shifts, those who adapt best will win. Those who are stubborn and complain will lose. This is just another one of those changes, so let's see who adapts best.
      This.

      I agree with likes as a form of engagement already. I personally just tap on like when i do l like the content but I don't drop comments as frequent. But with current bots that plague IG, it can be quite questionable if it was liked based on actual interest or if it was just from bots.
      But, I'm pretty sure that factor isn't too much of a big deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author Medon
    I am at a loss here. Don't you think the effect of such an action would affect Instagram? after all, social media thrives on engagement. So trying to minimize it will make the network less popular. As a person, I would frequent social media that allows my comments reacted on.
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    • Profile picture of the author sgalla414
      Originally Posted by Medon View Post

      I am at a loss here. Don't you think the effect of such an action would affect Instagram? after all, social media thrives on engagement. So trying to minimize it will make the network less popular. As a person, I would frequent social media that allows my comments reacted on.

      Its not that you CAN'T like a person's post, just Instagram is not showing the total amount of likes that a post has. Also, their change has nothing to do with how commenting is currently. You can still comment on a persons post and they can still respond.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelQuinn
    I think jealous girlfriends and boyfriends the world over are going to lose their shit LMAO
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephannie Baker
    This is pretty interesting. I am not sure how users will take this. I mean the influencers. I hope it doesn't plummet
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    • Profile picture of the author WF Will
      Administrator
      Originally Posted by Stephannie Baker View Post

      This is pretty interesting. I am not sure how users will take this. I mean the influencers. I hope it doesn't plummet
      Don't think this will impact influencers that drastically. It'll just be harder for them to get inbound sponsorships. Brands will also have to do their due diligence and request for influencer's IG account's metrics through their business profile.

      In the past, some influencers I worked with actually would decline to reveal those stats (because they can afford to) but now it seems like it will be mandatory if they want to get paid
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    • Profile picture of the author cearionmarie
      Originally Posted by Stephannie Baker View Post

      This is pretty interesting. I am not sure how users will take this. I mean the influencers. I hope it doesn't plummet
      Real influencers should be fine, but the ones that will take a big hit are small influencers and fake influencers. I guess this is for the best though.
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      Cearion Uy - Marketing Advisor
      www.influencerauditor.com

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  • Profile picture of the author cearionmarie
    The update would good for the general users, being away from the pressure of likes. But it seems to be a drawback for businesses and influencers. However, there's still a way for other people to check likes if they really need to. There's a platform called phlanx that can calculate likes per post.
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    Cearion Uy - Marketing Advisor
    www.influencerauditor.com

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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    I like it. Keeps you focused on the process, not outcomes, and all success flows from surrender to the process. I like getting Likes of course and figure social proof plays a role in success but speaking/chatting with human beings is the key to success. IG is making us speak to humans. I dig it.
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    Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
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  • Profile picture of the author sparrow
    Looks like some form of bot control.

    Seems like everyone has a bot for sale, all you need to look at is how these bots ruined wordpress comments. I'm sure this is the consideration and they are testing to see how this plays out.
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