The Big Change To Instagram We Didn't See Coming!

Instagram users around Australia will no longer be able to see how many ‘likes’ a post has received in an attempt to reduce the pressures of social media.

In a move to reduce the pressure and negative mental health effects of social media, Instagram users around Australia will no longer be able to see the amount of likes a post has received news.com.au reports.

While users will still be able to access a list of people who have liked their posts, the total number will no longer be displayed. The company says they hope the change will have a positive effect within the social media platform.

Freedom To Post

Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, say they are monitoring the changes which started in Canada back in May.

“We hope this test will remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive so you can focus on sharing the things you love,” Mia Garlick, director of policy, said in a statement.

“We are now rolling out the test to Australia so we can learn more about how this can benefit people’s experiences on Instagram, and whether this change can help people focus less on likes and more on telling their story.”

It comes after Instagram also introduced a feature that detects offensive comments before they are posted, allowing the user to reconsider what they are writing and hopefully choose not to share it.

On Trial

The company says they chose to include Australia in the trial as it is one of the fastest-growing communities, joining New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Italy, and Brazil.

It has not been decided yet whether the changes will be made permanent, but some users have already taken to Twitter to share their frustration.

“What about the people using it for income?” one user posted. “The people who work hard creating content, to then have their work not praised/not shown how successful it was to others?”

“This would be better if it was optional,” said another. “Those who want to hide their likes can have the option to hide them, those who don’t want to won’t need to.”

If the changes do have the positive effect that the company is hoping, we think losing the ability to see total likes is a small price to pay.

Do you think Instagram removing total likes is a positive move? Let us know in the comments.

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25 Comments

- - mom268263 said
  - 31 Oct 2020
    3:24 pm
A great (surprising) judgement call, and after a bit of media attention everyone just moved on – and the world did not end.

- - mom111059 said
  - 30 Jun 2020
    2:25 pm
I’m not a social media user but these changes sound good.

- - mom81879 said
  - 11 Feb 2020
    4:10 pm
I don’t use Instagram so I won’t notice these changes. Apparently Facebook have stopped people from seeing how many likes a post gets, can’t say I’ve noticed that one

- - mom81879 said
  - 23 Oct 2019
    9:30 am
I think it’s likely to reduce the number of posts that are put up. I don’t have Instagram, so I won’t notice. I do have Facebook and apparently they are trialling the unseen likes. But I can still see them, you just need to click on them instead of seeing ’26 likes’ up front. Not much of a change

- - BellaB said
  - 01 Aug 2019
    8:09 pm
I don’t quite get Instagram, to be honest.

- - mom343701 said
  - 31 Jul 2019
    6:39 am
more changes like this please

- - Jessica said
  - 29 Jul 2019
    7:45 pm
These are great changes peer pressure on these sites is way to high

- - Jbuttxx said
  - 29 Jul 2019
    7:52 am
I support these changes! there is so much dishonesty just for likes which leads to unrealistic views for the general public. so much body dis-morphia these days, it’s sad

- - rachelvk said
  - 28 Jul 2019
    4:37 pm
I fully support the changes.

- - mom173467 said
  - 28 Jul 2019
    4:34 pm
I don’t see it as a bad idea. Probably really only social so called influencers that will be bummed out about it.

- - Life.with.Sassy said
  - 27 Jul 2019
    9:43 pm
I was not onboard with the changes initially but I’m slowly warming to it and feel like I have a little less pressure to gain likes on my feed. I do worry about how this will affect me when collaborating with business’ going forward as I think that the number of likes on your post would influence a businesses decision to reach out. I would prefer if hiding the likes were an option.

- - Sarah said
  - 23 Jul 2019
    9:19 am
I love this change. As a mum to two teens, it’s a bloody good thing that they can no longer spend their days obsessing about how many “likes” they get on a picture!!!

- - mom93821 said
  - 22 Jul 2019
    6:22 am
People should have choice on their accounts and be able to select or deselect the feature.
Choice is a good thing!

- - mish06 said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    5:21 pm
I love using Instagram and no mind the changes.

- - mom90758 said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    3:00 pm
I think it’s a great idea and a great way to handle cyber-bulling.

- - nadine_hill said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    8:25 am
I post what I like and really don’t care how many likes it attracts ….. I think this is aimed at the younger generation who do really get concerned about the likes they receive – I think it is a good idea!

- - Ellen said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    8:14 am
I’m not much on Instagram and never felt pressure about how many likes a post receives, but know for some this seemed very important.
- mom93821 replied
  
  23 Jul 2019 , 4:58 am
  I have similar feelings – it does not concern me but I know some people like it for different reasons. Again it comes down to people having a choice.
- - mom265671 said
  - 19 Jul 2019
    11:29 pm
I love this idea and hope it stays

- - mom129591 said
  - 19 Jul 2019
    11:00 pm
I did hear something about this subject today. Yes, business and people can rely upon a simple likes.

- - MrsA said
  - 19 Jul 2019
    6:43 pm
I have never even looked at how many likes something has.