Facebook and Instagram users can now hide the number of likes on their posts, allowing them to choose what works best for them, the social media giant said.
For a long time, the company had been experimenting with hiding likes on Instagram.
Instagram said in a statement that “we tested hiding like counts to see if it might depressurize people experience on Instagram. What we heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some, and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense for what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving you the choice.”
In addition, the company is looking for new ways to give people more control over their experience.
Facebook remarked that “that’s why we announced new tools to allow people to filter offensive content from their direct messages and gave people ways to control what they see and share on Facebook’s News Feed, like the feed filter bar, favorites feed and choose who can comment.”
Users around the world should be able to hide like counts on all posts in their feed immediately. They’ll also be able to hide like counts on their posts so that others can’t see how many likes their posts get. According to Instagram, this allows users to focus on the photos and videos being shared rather than the number of likes the posts receive.
By going to the new posts area under Settings, users can hide like counts on other people’s posts. This setting affects all of the posts in their feed.
Before sharing a post, users can select to hide like counts. Even after it goes live, they can turn this setting on or off. Both of these controls will be available to Facebook users in the coming weeks.
Instagram also announced that it will fund additional external research on people’s experiences with the app and how it can enhance its policies and products to better serve its users.
The company added that it also recently teamed with the Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) to initiate the fifth edition of the ‘Counter Speech Fellowship,’ a program that encourages creative youths in using the power of visual storytelling to start meaningful conversations on issues that are important to young citizens throughout the world.
This Includes the themes of bullying, diversity, mental health, and gender equality.
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