Posting on Instagram can come with a rush of validation when likes from friends and strangers come pouring in. But those likes will soon be hidden for some US users.
In an attempt to stamp down on competitive pressure on the platform, Instagram will hide likes for “some” users in the United States starting next week, its CEO Adam Mosseri said Friday. It’s a test that the Facebook- (FB)owned platform has already rolled out to seven countries: Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.
Now the United States will join the list.
How Will It Work?
Likes, or how many hearts a post gets, will disappear from Instagram’s feed and user profile pages. A user can still see how many likes they’ve received, but their followers won’t know the count. It’s therefore harder to compare whether your post of a cute dog is getting more traction than a friend’s photo of their cat.
Mosseri said the move is aimed at young people. “The idea is to depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition,” he said, in remarks given at the Wired 25 Conference.
