In the middle of July 2019, Instagram removed the option to see likes on photos in a handful of countries, including Australia. The controversial move has been justified by Instagram as they have stated that they hope it will help to improve mental health by “removing the pressure of how many likes a post will receive”.
Studies have found that Instagram has the biggest impact out of all social media outlets on people’s mental health.
Whilst Instagram are claiming that they are doing this for the better good of humanity, many still remain sceptical as to the real reason why Instagram are trialling the removal of likes.
As Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms, it comes across as a bold move to remove one of the most fundamental parts about social media. However, by Instagram removing the option of viewing likes, it does lead us to think, are likes even that important?
‘The Engagement Food Chain’ (Sterne, J. 2010) shows that having something liked is quite a shallow form of engagement, and may not do much else for the brand other than increase the number of likes. Businesses should be aiming to create content that is highly engaging, and will motivate consumers to not just view their product, but to go out and purchase it.
An opinion article by Dave Levett, states that the only reason why Instagram has removed likes, is to push small businesses into spending more on paid advertising, rather than just relying on organic reach.
An increasing trend particularly with how Google SEO is moving, where businesses have a “silent auction” whenever you search something to appear as the top link. What is popular and what is trending is more and more being manipulated by companies who are willing to pay for it.
Will this trend grow? Where businesses will be pushed into purchasing ads on social media if they want to be viewed? Or is this an over analysis of the situation and are Instagram trying to do what is best for society?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Digital Marketing 
You made a good point there; it made me think whether or not removing the ‘likes’ function on instagram had any effect on me. And personally, I think it has made me less self conscious, I dont have to worry about whether my posts will get a certain amount of likes and I feel more carefree about it too. But to answer your question, I don’t think that instagram did this just to push businesses into purchasing ads because on the analytical side of things, measuring what matters on social media isn’t just the amount of likes a post gets but more how engaged people are with the content, returning users, reposts, comments etc. So all in all, I personally think that Instagram was doing it for the greater good hahaha.
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I guess either way, Instagram is serving a good function by removing likes and helping people to feel less conscious!
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Great article, very interesting, does this mean the end of social media influencers?
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Thank-you! I’m not sure if this will mean the end of social media influencers, but maybe just change the way that they measure popularity. I think it will put a bigger focus on how much consumers engage with an influencers posts rather then how many likes they get.
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Great blog Emma! I found it so interesting when they removed the likes section as well and wondered how this would affect social media influencers. But from my understanding there are other analytics that they look at that measures their engagement, and there is the option to still view likes, it just isn’t public. I think it was a great move though that did address a social issue even if it wasn’t Instagram’s primary intent; focuses more on great content rather than the number of likes.
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