In the wake of Instagram’s announcement of testing out hiding likes, Facebook follows suit. Today’s world is run by likes, and people are obsessed with getting the largest number possible. This is partly because of celebrities, influencers, and society’s overall need to be the best.
The Plan
The information released on Labor Day, which was Monday, September 2. If implemented, Facebook posts will no longer show the number of likes or reactions to a post. Whoever created the post can see a list of people and their reactions, but an exact number won’t be available. This will hopefully teach people that likes don’t count, and quality is all that matters.
Facebook’s Problem
While Instagram is full of day-to-day moments and activities, people usually use Facebook for life updates. This includes college and graduate school acceptances, engagements and marriages, as well as pregnancy announcements. Because of this, these posts tend to receive a lot of likes. If someone’s post doesn’t receive as much attention, it could cause unwanted self consciousness. If Facebook does go through with hiding likes, the self worth of so many people might improve.
Moving Forward
In August, Facebook said it began the test to “remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive” on Instagram, and was “excited by the early test results.” While we don’t have an exact date of when this feature will be available on both platforms, we can expect some pretty big changes in the near future.
