RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Instagram began a test in Brazil on July 17th, which conceals the likes count in posts. According to the company, the aim is that “followers focus more on the shared photos and videos than on the number of likes they receive.”
In practice, only the profile owner will continue to know how many likes their publications have received. Followers will no longer have access to the number of likes.
“We don’t want people to feel like they’re in competition within Instagram and we expect to understand if such a change could help people focus less on likes and more on telling their stories,” said the company in a statement.
The test began last May in Canada. According to Instagram, the first results are encouraging, although analyzing how the change affects the user experience of the App remains to be verified.