I’m sure you’ve all realised by now that Facebook-owned Instagram took away your ability to see how many likes photos get.
Both a blessing a curse, the move was supposedly made to stop people comparing themselves to others and competition. Instead it should create a focus on content and the things you love. I’m pretty sure the real reason was just to sell you stuff better, but you know. Whatever.
Anyway, now Facebook is thinking of moving this little update to their own site. So, start emotionally prepping yourself to not be able to show off the amount of likes on your sexy new display pic.
Facebook is working to hide like counts, too!https://t.co/WnUrM12aZg
Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/TdT73wT6A0
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 2, 2019
Facebook spoke to TechCrunch about it, and it’s confirmed that they’re def running trials where they’re going to hide your like count.
In some ways this is a blessing, because now no one will see the little amount of likes all those cool articles I share on Facebook get (rip). But also, how will anyone see how strong my meme game is?
I suppose they’re also going to argue that this is about self-esteem. Instagram def went hard on the moral high ground with hiding likes as a means to improve the self-worth of users. I think it’s pretty safe to assume though, that giant corporations are not overly concerned with your wellness as an individual.
Whatever a big corp does, it’s done for profits. You getting something good out of it is more likely a side effect to their profit, which obvs makes it way easier to market those changes as something for YOU.
Instagram’s hidden likes killed influencer careers and came with increased sponsored posts – mostly so that Instagram could go back to making money from advertising.
All I’m saying is, we need to be wary of big corps and the fact that most of the time, they’re just trying to sell you more stuff.
Image Sources: GIPHY, Twitter @wongmjane)
