Instagram might kill the like count on photos

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Instagram lawsuit
A Chrome extension can bring your hidden "Likes" out in the open.
Photo: Pixabay

Instagrammers’ obsession with likes might be coming to an abrupt end.

The photo sharing social network revealed today that it is looking into ways to alleviate pressure on its app. One of the proposed ways is to remove the like count from photos so that they’re only visible to the person that posted the pic or video.

‘Doing it for the Gram’ could soon be dead.

Code hunter Jane Wong, who has spotted a number of new Instagram features before release, was the first to notice the possible change to like counts. Wong unearthed a test screen inside Instagram that states the app wants “followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get.”

A spokesperson from Instagram told The Verge that the feature isn’t live for any users yet, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come out in the future.

“We’re not testing this at the moment, but exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about.”

Goodbye Likes!

Removing the like count from Instagram would be a drastic change for the platform where so many influencers are accused of posting certain photos just for likes. As someone who spends way too much time every day on Instagram, I think this change could be one of the best things Instagram could do for the platform.

Likes encourage people to post more often and incentivizes users to chase content that performs better than other photos. This can lead some users to post content that’s not authentic. Removing follower counts from profiles would also be another welcomed change in my opinion.

Of course, just because Instagram is considering the change doesn’t mean it’s actually going to happen. There have been a few features that made it to the testing phase but never made it into an update. Hopefully Instagram follows through with this idea though.

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