Goodbye to the Instagram like number. Although at the moment it should be a "simple" experimentation, the galaxy of Italian influencers is in turmoil. After Canada, our country becomes one of the first to see the elimination of the like count under the various posts on Instagram. A novelty introduced in recent hours and that, unfailingly, has already triggered a jumble of reactions online.
To put it bluntly, this is not a novelty tout court. At the time of the launch of the Canadian experiment, in fact, Instagram had made it clear that the elimination could soon arrive in other countries with a very specific goal: to dismantle the dictatorship of the little hearts. "We want to help people put the focus on the photos and videos they share, not on how many likes they get," says Tara Hopkins, Head of Public Policy EMEA at Instagram. "We want Instagram to be a place where everyone can feel free to express themselves." In short: the aim is to create a better and more participatory community, but at the moment the reactions are not all positive.
Instagram like number: what's happening and what will change
As announced by Mark Zuckerberg during F8 2019 in San Jose, the like counter has been eliminated also in Italy. Evidently, the experiment conducted in Canada has produced positive results, allowing the photo social par excellence to achieve its intended goals.
To tell the truth, however, Instagram likes have not disappeared completely. While users will no longer be able to see them (or, at least, that's how it will be until the trial ends and is considered negative), those who upload photos and videos to the Facebook-owned social platform will continue to view them normally.
This way, it's possible to achieve a double result. As hoped by Hopkins, users will be able to focus on the beauty of the photo and not on the number of likes it garnered. On the other hand, creators will still be able to know which photos and videos collect the most hearts, so they can better "calibrate" their content strategy.