Like, what?
Facebook and Instagram will now allow users to hide ‘Like’ counts on posts.
I remember the first time being with someone having a meltdown about not having enough likes on a photo. At the time, I secretly thought he needs bigger problems in his life — this is literally sweating the small stuff. It’s not like he was an influencer and his livelihood depended on it. That, I could understand. It turns out I was being unempathetic, uneducated, judgemental and wrong. This was a long, long time ago, by the way. A lot has changed since back then.
This is an issue for a whole generation. So I was pleased to see that Facebook and Instagram will now allow users to hide ‘Like’ counts.
Originally, the idea to hide like counts on Facebooks social networks was focused on depressurising the experience for users. Like my friend, users face anxiety and embarrassment around their posts if they don’t receive enough likes to be considered popular. This problem is challenging for younger users who highly value what peers think of them — so much so that they take down posts.
Facebook this week will begin to publicly roll out the option to hide Likes on posts across both Facebook and Instagram, following earlier tests starting in 2019. You can read all the details, including how to use this new feature, in this article.
