Is Instagram going to get rid of likes?
According to app researcher, Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram may be testing a feature where it makes displaying how many likes a photo has, optional.
In 2019, the app played around with removing likes on photos as part of an effort to promote a more ‘healthy’ social media environment. The idea at the time was that removing likes could decrease social media comparison. However, it is unclear whether or not people would be on board with a change like this. Instagram does seem hesitant to make the feature public.
Paluzzi also pointed out that it may be optional whether or not you want your likes to be public. Nonetheless, it is tricky to sense whether or not people would be on board with this drastic of a change to the app. Recently, Instagram revamped itself adding a section exclusively for shopping. The change made many very unhappy.
Perhaps the platform needs to do some testing before going public with this anticipated feature.
Check out Paluzzi’s tweets here: https://twitter.com/alex193a/status/1349533526736195585