Instagram is officially testing a new update in Canada that hides the “total likes” of an Instagram post. There are many people who are excited about this positive change for “Instagram Culture”, but there are many Influencers who are outraged!
The hiding of “total likes” will definitely be a positive step towards a more positive Instagram culture (and social media culture as a whole) and here is why.
1. Influencer Culture is Toxic
When it comes to social media marketing and creating quality content, likes aren’t the most important thing. Instagram culture has become toxic, with people only posting and interacting for the sake of increasing their likes, engagement, and following; but, these false interactions have nurtured an unhealthy Instagram experience for many users on the platform. Thus, hiding the total number of likes per post will take users back to the basics in terms of liking photos because they enjoy the content and not just because other people did. In addition, for people who don’t have a large following, it can be difficult to compete with large Instagram pages – thus, hiding the total likes of a post will level the playing field on the explore page when it comes to social klout.
2. Quality Content Should Be a Priority
With the hiding of total likes, Instagram influencers are going to be forced to go back to the basics in terms of the content they post. Many influencers have amassed large followings solely due to the fact that they are “social media influencers” or that they buy fake likes and followers. Although these two cases aren’t totally related, they will both be affected with the hiding of likes because all Instagrammers will now have to focus on the quality of their content as they won’t get as much traction due to their high like count not showing.
A Positive Step for Instagram Culture
Whether or not you agree with Instagram’s current experimentation with the hiding of likes, you should be open to the positive impact it could have on social media users. By not putting so much weight on the vanity metric of “post likes”, Instagram culture could go back to the basics in regards to focusing on quality content over anything else. This could even have a positive impact on Instagram users in regards to mental health while turning around the toxic “influencer culture” currently plaguing the social network.
Do you think hiding “total likes” on Instagram is a positive move for the social network, user mental health, and content creators? Send me a message on Twitter @iambradthompson – I would love to hear your thoughts!
Follow Bradley Thompson on Instagram.
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