In a strange (but appreciable) feature that Facebook Inc. has just announced for both its main app Facebook and Instagram, users will now have the option to “hide” the count of likes on their posts.
Back in 2019, Instagram had first introduced the feature to hide the like count on posts, claiming that the move would work to make the time users spent on its platform less depressing and stressful. However, not many were impressed, as people like social media influencers feared it would harm their interactions with their followers. At that time, the feature was not optional, meaning users could not change to the “hide” or “unhide” option at will.
This further aggravated issues, as exemplified by what Adam Mosseri, the Head at Instagram. He said, “How many likes [users] got, or other people got — it turned out that it didn’t actually change nearly as much about the experience, in terms of how people felt or how much they use experience, as we thought it would. But it did end up being pretty polarizing.” “Some people really liked it and some people really didn’t.”
Now however, Facebook Inc. has announced that users on Facebook and Instagram will be able to flip or toggle a switch, which will allow them to switch over from hiding and unhiding their like counts. If switched on, instead of the actual like count on their post, users will only be able to see the statement, “Liked by so-and-so and others”.
To avail the option, users on Instagram will have to go to the “Posts” section on their Settings tab. There, they will see the option to turn off the like count, and, if checked, it will make the like count disappear on all their posts.
However, if users want to hide the like count on an individual post, they will also have the option of doing that, before they make their post. The setting can be turned on or off, even after the post has been made.
The feature will first be made available to users on Instagram, and will later be rolled out for Facebook as well.
On Instagram, both content creators and consumers will now be able to turn of the Like and View counts on posts. This means that users won’t have to see the like counts on the posts in their Feed, and can also control whether or not other users have access to the number of likes on their posts.
Facebook users, on the other hand, will have to visit “Settings & Privacy” under News Feed Settings. From there on, “Hide number of reactions” option will be seen, which can be used to turn of like counts on one’s own posts, or those on one’s Feed.
The feature has been in development for many years now, but was removed from the Priority List following the pandemic. The main aim has been to take the focus away from the number of likes a post gets, and in turn, make the users less stressed about having a specific number of likes on each of their posts.
