
It’s OK If No One Likes You
Okay, so, we all know Instagram is testing a taboo topic; taking away all of our “likes” but, really, does it matter? That’s what we want to find out.
This new move could completely change the way we post and engage on the platform, but no one is truly sure of what effects will ripple from this change. I’m sure, if you’re like us, the question you’re asking is why? According to Facebook’s Director of Policy, the decision to test this new feature comes from a hope that users will feel less judged for what they post and curate online.
However, will removing likes really change anything? Who is to say that users won’t shift their focus to the number of followers, comments, shares, and reposts an account gets? It seems as though we will just replace one vice for another.
It’s important to note that you will still be able to see how many people liked your own posts but, to see how many likes someone else is getting, well, you’ll have to manually count all of those likes. Do you have time to do that? We don’t have time to do that.
Whether or not this has a positive impact on the platform’s social standing (pun intended, of course), we will have to just wait and see.