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Facebook Will Test Hiding 'Likes' On Its Own Site (engadget.com) 26

Facebook is getting ready to start hiding "Likes" on its own site. Engadget reports: The company has now officially started a test that will remove public visibility of Like, reaction and video view counts from people's posts and ads across Facebook. This is going to be happening only in Australia, though, and Facebook told Engadget it has not decided whether the test will expand to other places in the future. Facebook said it wants to get some initial results from Australia, before eventually deciding which steps to take next.

If you're a Facebook user in Australia, this means that while your friends and family will still be able to like and add emoji reactions to your posts, they won't be able to see how many others interacted with it. The same goes if you want to see how many people liked a post from someone you know; that information on counts will now only be visible to the author of a post, who can still see the number of Likes or reactions their posts are getting, it just won't be public. "We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people's experiences," a Facebook spokesperson said.
Facebook's move to hide Like counts follows a similar test it started running on Instagram earlier this year.
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Facebook Will Test Hiding 'Likes' On Its Own Site

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  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Friday September 27, 2019 @06:27AM (#59242066)

    It means that nobody likes you.

  • by TuringTest ( 533084 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @07:29AM (#59242174) Journal

    You'll see people sharing screenshots of their own comment with the number of likes they've received so far.

  • Facebook Will Test Hiding On Its Own Site
  • That's okay (Score:5, Informative)

    by coofercat ( 719737 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @08:23AM (#59242294) Homepage Journal

    I've been testing hiding Facebook - so far it's going pretty well.

    https://github.com/jmdugan/blo... [github.com]

  • Liking, number of reposts, propagation over social graph, etc will still be visible to the ones who pay and the ones who have a "special" relationship with Facebook. Marketeers, advertisers, 3 letters, law enforcement in countries where Facebook pretends to obey the law, etc.

    It is only the hoy poloy like me and you who will stop seeing them and we do not matter. We are the product.

  • My guess is the real goal is to hide the fact that fewer people are using facebook, and those who still are are using it less. I've pretty much only ever used to share my photography (not in a business sense, I don't sell or do anything for hire). I've noticed quite a drop off in likes in thing I and others share.

    • My guess is the real goal is to hide the fact that fewer people are using facebook, and those who still are are using it less. I've pretty much only ever used to share my photography (not in a business sense, I don't sell or do anything for hire). I've noticed quite a drop off in likes in thing I and others share.

      Exactly my story.

      I'm an amateur, and judging by the reactions I get, a pretty good one.

      I posted several thousand photos on Facebook along with some videos. The most popular were the ones where I used my GoPro to view unusual places and provide interesting perspectives like time-lapse sunrises.

      I don't know if you're aware of "social cooling," where in these days of political and social division (LGBTQ+, abortion, immigration, religion, etc.), people are careful of what they post, like people are careful to a

  • Seriously. Is this being done because parents are worried about their precious snowflake
    going off to hang her self because the dislikes exceed the likes or something?

    It's time for a bit of tough love, and let kids know that not everybody is going to like you,
    that there are twisted, fucked up people online and IRL, and to grow a thick skin, and be smart when it comes to dealing with people.

    This is not to be confused with cyberbullying which is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with, but

To err is human, to moo bovine.

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