Months after Instagram tested hiding like count from posts in Canada, Australia, Japan, Ireland, New Zealand, Italy and Brazil, CEO Adam Mosseri announced that some Instagram users in the US can also expect the same.
According to WIRED, the company will start its testing from next week where the feature will be tested on a limited number of users.
Not only Instagram but social media companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are also experimenting with removal of engagement metrics from their platforms.
Though the public won’t be able to see the number of likes on a post, the stats will be visible to the post’s owner as usual.
According to Firstpost, when the company first announced the removal of likes from the platform, a spokesperson from Instagram had said in a statement,
We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get.
It’s still too early to say whether the move will improve the quality of online discourse and users’ mental health, but if it does work, it could be an important step towards bringing users back to platforms that they are abandoning.
