ARInstagram has launched a new feature this week that will give users the option to ‘hide’ likes on other people’s posts as well as their own. This has been launched to give users more control around how they manage their profiles.
‘Likes’ can be seen as measures for how well a social media post is performing. Social media celebrities or people who have businesses that run through Instagram, will heavily depend on data such as this, but for some, likes are not that important. However users see them, the need for likes can cause concern and create feelings of worry if not meeting expectations. Seeing other people’s posts may create feelings of jealousy or competitiveness which can lead to unhealthy patterns of ‘chasing’ likes. This behaviour can sometimes lead to users putting out material that is potentially harmful or contradictive of their true selves. This new feature can work towards helping users take the focus away from likes.
Setting Up
To enable this feature, users will need to access their Settings, go into Privacy, enter the Posts section and select the Hide Like Count switch. Using this will prevent you from seeing the number of likes on other people’s accounts as well as the total number of views.
If you want to hide the likes on your own posts, you’ll need to do this manually for each post you put out. Go into the post you want to hide, select Advanced Settings and turn on Hide Like and View Counts on this Post. You can change this at any time and also set up this feature before you post.
Maintaining a Balance
If you feel that your Instagram likes are causing any concerns or worries, then this feature may help with setting some boundaries. Turning off the like feature may help you appreciate the content of Instagram posts more as opposed to the response.
If you are a parent or carer concerned about children or young people using social media platforms such as Instagram, you can always download our free checklists to incorporate other parental controls to help keep profiles safe.
