You heard that right, Instagram is taking Likes away from posts. So, say goodbye to counting and comparing numbers, trying to get your post in at optimal Liking time, and holding up your most Liked post as a personal trophy. Likes on Instagram are on their way out, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
The change to Instagram was declared by Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, at the WIRED25 panel. The plan for Instagrams new policy is that likes will still be around and you can still see them. Don’t worry there will still be that gratifying number. However, none of your followers will have access to your Likes, and you won’t be able to see how many Likes any of your friends, of favourite influencers, have made on their posts.
Mosseri says “The idea is to try to ‘depressurise’ Instagram, make it less of a competition and give people more space to focus on connecting with people that they love, things that inspire them.” This idea sounds great. It can promote better connections between people and far less pressure to always make the perfect post. However, whether people respond well to this change will be interesting to see. Big influencers, as well as small ones, might struggle from the loss of Likes. This could cause problems for these groups, fo their jobs rely on receiving certain numbers of Likes.
Overall, Instagram removing Likes could be great for those of us who just want to share their photos with friends. The loss of stresses and embarrassments caused by trying to make the optimal post could do wonders for allowing people to post what they want when they want. Getting rid of likes has already been successful in other countries. It could easily go over well here too.
