Date Posted: Thursday 15th April 2021
Instagram is launching a small global test on Wednesday where users can choose whether to hide like counts on their own posts or other people’s posts, a Facebook spokeswoman said. Reuters reported that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook Inc, said that this latest test "came after seeing mixed responses to its experiments in which it removed likes, commonly used as a measure of popularity."
“In 2019, we started hiding like counts for a small group of people to understand if it lessens some pressure when posting to Instagram,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “Some people found this beneficial but some still wanted to see like counts so they could track what’s popular.”
Facebook will be exploring a similar experience in the coming weeks, she said, in response to users calling for more controls over how they interact with content on the platform. Facebook has previously tested hiding likes on others’ posts in Australia.
Users in the Instagram test will still be able to privately see their own like count. The test will involve a small percentage of global users, but the company has not revealed how many.
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