Recently, the popular social media app, Instagram, has been quietly testing a new feature that would hide your number of likes from all your followers or other accounts.
Basically, the public won’t be able to monitor the number of likes that your post gets. The original poster will be the only one who would be able to see the exact number of likes on his/her post.
WHAT THE COMPANY SAID
It was first discovered by a researcher, Jane Manchun Wong, who announced her observation on Twitter along with a quote from the app;
“We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get”
It is still in its prototype stage but when it does become available to public then there is ought to be a drastic change specially for influencers and IG models, as mentioned before.
An Instagram spokesperson commented on the new update, explaining their motive behind the update;
“we’re not testing this at the moment, but exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about.”
WHO WILL TAKE THE HIT
Most of the people are in support of this upcoming feature but some people who operate their business on Instagram or are influencers, are beyond devastated since they will be taking the biggest hit if the update comes in effect.
Likes are the determining factor for their business and popularity. It will be hard to stand out and get selected by companies if their engagements are invisible to recruiters.
There will probably new updates and features to tackle such issues too but for now it seems the commerce side of IG will be in a pickle.
OPINION
As a millennial I feel, this is a positive change, considering the way our generation has been shaped. Nowadays, the number of likes, your engagements are the new way of gaining validation and that has a severe effect on our mentality.
Our generation gets competitive over number of likes and give importance to such superficial factors, subconsciously making each of us have low self-esteem which often leads to depression and anxiety.
Whether the changes will be permanent or not is still unclear. What do you think about it? Do you support it or are you against it?
Published by edtimes.in