Instagram is going to start testing hiding ‘Likes’ from Instagram posts. This update will take effect for the US users starting this week. This change was first introduced to selected users in the United States but the company is expanding this in the US. Users will still be able to see the likes on their own photos.
This step is taken to focus more on the content that is posted on Instagram and was announced at WIRED25.
“It’s about young people,” Mosseri said during the Wired panel. “The idea is to try to ‘depressurize’ 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.”
“It means we’re going to put a 15-year-old kid’s interests before a public speaker’s interest,” he added. “When we look at the world of public content, we’re going to put people in that world before organizations and corporations.”
As likes for photos is the app’s one of the main features, hiding likes will fundamentally change the Instagram.
Instagram has previously tested many features including the removal of Instagram Activity Feed in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Ireland, and Japan.