Instagram is testing a feature that lets users decide if they want to see likes or not

Instagram is testing a new feature around hiding like counts, giving the chance to users of the platform to choose whether they want to appear or hide likes on posts.

Instagrammers will be able to hide likes either on their own posts or on other’s posts. Additionally, Facebook announced that it will follow the footsteps of Instagram, offering its users exactly the exact same option.

The company came to this conclusion when it realized that the reduced number of likes is causing its users the feeling of anxiety and shame because they weren’t "popular" enough. The phenomenon of "shame" seemed to be extremely intense in users of younger ages, which ended up deleting photos that didn’t have the desired number of likes.

It was that time for the company to protect its users, so it attempted to hide likes counts on users’ posts. As a result, influencers, the opposite side, complained vigorously because it was impossible for them to use likes as a metric, in order to measure their impact on their followers.

Therefore, Instagram, taking into account the reactions of both parties decided to provide users themselves with the opportunity to hide their likes.

This new feature is available to a small percentage of Instagram users and if you are part of it, you will find the option of hiding likes in the settings of the application.