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Social Networks

Instagram Tests Hiding Like Counts Globally (techcrunch.com) 21

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Instagram is making Like counts private for some users everywhere. From a report: Instagram tells TechCrunch the hidden Likes test is expanding to a subset of users globally. Users will have to decide for themselves if something is worth Liking rather than judging by the herd. The change could make users more comfortable sharing what's important to them without the fear of people seeing them receive an embarrassingly small number of likes. Instagram began hiding Likes in April in Canada and then brought the test to Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand in July. Facebook started a similar experiment in Australia in September. Instagram said last week the test would expand to the US, but now it's running everywhere to a small percentage of users in each country.
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Instagram Tests Hiding Like Counts Globally More

Instagram Tests Hiding Like Counts Globally

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  • What's the point then? (Score:3)

    by geek ( 5680 ) on Thursday November 14, 2019 @11:16AM (#59413888)

    Whats the point of having a like button at all if it's private? The idea was origianlly driven by two things, first liked ones would trend so others would see it. But now trends are manually manipulated. Second, liked ones were used to build profiles so that they could show you similar things, but they gather that now via other methods.

    So why not remove likes altogether? My guess is because it feeds the popularity addiction that attention whores have.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by ElectronicSpider ( 6381110 )
      Just because it's hidden doesn't mean that they have the same functionality. The uploader can still see the like count and he can still use the number to gauge the reaction of his followers while algorithms use those numbers the same way they have been using it until today. It's just that the followers can't see how many people liked the upload, and I can't think of a reason why they should.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      Whats the point of having a like button at all if it's private?

      It still let's the poster know if it was popular, and now you won't have people liking things just because other people liked it. Although I wonder how long it will take before people simply post screenshots of their posts displaying the number of likes?

    • Re:What's the point then? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sconeu ( 64226 ) on Thursday November 14, 2019 @11:36AM (#59413982) Homepage Journal

      I'd point out the irony of this comment being on /., but you've got a 4 digit UID. Remember when they changed actual karma value display to just Excellent/good/whatever?

      • That was because people were putting their Slashdot karma score on their resumes.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          That was because people were putting their Slashdot karma score on their resumes.

          What's the point of applying for a job if you don't want them to hire you?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      Talking about manipulation, it is not whether like or dislike or what ever is visible, it is that in the most disgusting fashion imaginable, specific users are being targeted and manipulated with altered interfaces. How far will that go, how far will manipulate you interactions to psychologically manipulate you. Testing specific individuals involuntarily to gauge psychological reactions https://www.apa.org/ethics/cod... [apa.org] and apparently no fucks given by the ugliest and most psychopathic tech corporations as

  • I prefer having both options (Score:3)

    by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Thursday November 14, 2019 @11:34AM (#59413964)
    When I first find a new community, a lot of times I want to see the top posts as a good way to get acquainted with what they're about and some of the interesting things to come out of them. However, once I've got a good understanding of what I'm looking at, I usually want to switch to an unfiltered view where I see new posts and can decide for myself which ones are good or bad.

    I can't speak to Instagram specifically since I don't use that site, but this applies generally, I wish more sites let me toggle between these two formats at will.

  • Calculating ... (0.5 attoseconds)

    Result: Zero fucks.

  • OK, you're so narcissistic that you want to share the status of your dishwasher, but you're so insecure that you're embarrassed when that only gets 2 likes?

    Be definition, aren't almost all of us going to get an "embarrassing" number of likes on our stuff? I know I do. The stars are always going to be orders of magnitude more popular than the rest of us. Maybe people should just deal with that. Maybe they shouldn't post stuff in public if the mildest form of criticism is too much for them. Heck. I've b

  • I don't give 2 shits about Instagram but I hope this thought pattern doesn't catch on.
    People should see all feedback. They need it. Not for the reasons everyone thinks.
    Praise or criticism are great ways to figure out if you or someone else on the right track in life.

  • > Users will have to decide for themselves if something is worth Liking rather than judging by the herd.

    Madness. So how are they going to know what advertisers tell them should be cool now?

  • It's like a million fish-lips cried out and were suddenly silenced
  • Aren't likes how influencers prove their popularity so they can charge big bucks for posts?

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