It could be a social experiments like the old days when the social experiments on YouTube were popular, recently Instagram announced that it is planning to remove like and view counts from showing on pictures and videos which created a controversy over social media between supporters and opposers. I looked it up from a curiosity to see why this move from Instagram and what’s the purpose behind it? I found the following;
First, this is not applied to the whole world yet except Canada where they decided to test it and see the users feedback and reaction, the followers won’t see the total likes on pictures or views on videos shared while the account owner will still be able to see how many likes their photos has gotten if they click on a button that says “view likes”.
The reason behind the test was to create a less pressurized environment where people feel comfortable expressing themselves and worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram, and spend a bit more time connecting with the people they care about, Furthermore, the number of likes is also not a genuine measurement and inaccurate sometimes because some users can buy likes and comments even followers.
Instagram also, announced that it is going to test several features that comes with the latter one such as; a new nudge which will warn users if they’re about to comment something hurtful, in addition to manage interactions allow users to set limits on how certain people interact with them without having to block them, last but not least away mode which let the user get out of social media for certain time during intense or sensitive period of user’s life like divorce , a family death…. The last feature Instagram announced which I liked a lot is the donation stickers which is a way to raise money for nonprofits whether school, organization, shelters…. By using a fundraiser sticker in stories and all the money raised through the system will go towards the cause.
