On Instagram And Facebook, Giving People More Control
Instagram has been experimenting with ‘hiding like counts’ since April, as social media users may have noticed. On May 26, Instagram, a photo and video-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, said that users will now be able to hide their public like counts on Instagram and Facebook, allowing them to choose what works best for them.
Users can also choose to hide like counts on their posts, making it impossible for others to see how many likes a particular post has received. The change was first announced at Wired25 in San Francisco in November 2019. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated that the ‘hiding likes’ functionality would be tested initially on US audiences. This essentially means that users would select whether or not they want to see like counts on other users’ posts. Users can also choose whether or not others can see the number of likes on their posts. Additionally, users will be able to hide likes on specific posts.
Notably, unless you specify otherwise, all likes will be visible on the platforms by default. Facebook claims that “We wanted to evaluate if concealing like counts might make people’s Instagram experience less stressful. Many and experts told us that not seeing like counts was advantageous for some but unpleasant for others, especially because people use like counts to get a sense of what’s trendy or popular, so we’re providing you the option.”
How to Hide Likes on Instagram Posts
Step 1: Tap on the post whose likes you want to hide.
Step 2: Tap on the top right corner’s vertical three dots.
Step 3: Click the “Hide Likes” button.
Instagram will also allow you to hide likes before sharing a post. For the uninitiated, by hiding likes, you can still see who liked the post; it’s just that the number of likes is no longer visible.
You can select to conceal like counts before sharing a post. Users will be able to toggle this setting on or off even after it goes live, making sure you have the most recent Instagram update. Both of these features will be available on Facebook in the coming weeks.
