Instagram wants to remind us that social media is not a competition (unless you’re an influencer).
The Facebook-owned social media platform is in the process of hiding ‘like’ counts in each post. According to head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, this change will be implemented in order to make Instagram a “less pressurized environment.”
Earlier this week, Mosseri made an announcement at Facebook’s F8 saying, “We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.”
This doesn’t mean that the likes will be fully invisible, however. With the change implemented, users will still be able to see who has liked their post – they just wouldn’t be able to know the total number of people who did. This way, it effectively lessens the need for people to aim for the highest number of ‘likes’ on each of their photos.
“We don’t want Instagram to feel like a competition,” he adds. “What we aspire to do is lead the fight against online bullying.”
The changes will be rolled out until the next few weeks, as Instagram observes how its users will react to the new change.
