Should You Hide Your Instagram Like Count?

Instagram is ranked fourth in the world as the most active social media platform with 1.4 billion users.

As one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States and across the world, it’s likely that you’ve heard about the new update Instagram has released.

To make your brand more successful on Instagram, you’ll want to spend a lot of time and effort marketing. Instagram isn’t like other social media platforms, and therefore you’re probably interested in hiding your Instagram-like count.

If you post or use social media for your business, you need to know the pros and cons of hiding Instagram like count. Read on to learn more about hiding your Instagram like count and the issues it can create.

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The Goal of Removing Likes

The CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, stated they wanted to create a healthier and more positive online space. The company wanted to reduce the competitive feeling people get when they are on social media.

They came up with the idea to remove likes. The internet was divided on this.

Some people loved the idea and others hated it. The company came up with a compromise where an individual could turn the likes on and off.

Another goal of hiding the like count is to create a better community where people connect with each other more. The hope is to increase positive engagement.

Benefits of No Likes

There are many benefits of hiding Instagram like count. Some of these translate for business only, and some apply to people who only use social media for fun.

Focus on Quality

Instagram’s algorithm, like other platforms, favors accounts that post frequently. Some influencers post multiple times a day, every day of the year.

However, this doesn’t always result in quality posts. People tend to focus on how many likes and comments they get instead of the type of content they are putting online.

Removing likes encourages people to think about the photos and videos they are taking. People can slow down and they don’t have to worry about posting every few hours.

Improve Mental Health

There are many great things that come from social media; however, there have been studies that show it can be damaging to people’s mental health and happiness. People who are on social media may not be as happy with their life, they can feel isolated, and cyberbullying is an issue too.

Removing likes allows people to feel more comfortable being their true selves. It’s important that young teens and adults don’t measure their self-worth and value by how many likes they get on a photo they posted.

People Will Post More Often

People will use the app more if there isn’t as much pressure to take the perfect photo. This can also be helpful for small businesses. If a company is just getting started, people may skip over their posts because they don’t have a lot of likes.

Whether it’s right or wrong, businesses look more reputable if their like count is high. Removing likes will encourage people to look at the post and form their own opinion instead of looking at the like count.

Cons of Hiding Likes

You may be asking yourself “should I hide likes on Instagram”. At first, there may not seem to be any downsides, but there are a few.

People May Switch to Other Platforms

People don’t like change and many people may switch to other platforms to get their information or to post content. Whether people are aware of it or not, they get a dopamine high from seeing their like count go up. If they aren’t getting that from Instagram, they will go somewhere else.

Limits Influence Marketing

Hiding Instagram like count can also make marketing challenging for large companies and influencers. Brands may not be able to properly gauge an influencer’s performance. That is, the hidden metrics are important.

Any business account will show the influencers how their posts are doing. They can send these stats to companies.

Focus Shifted to Follower Count

Brands and people may shift their focus from likes to followers, which can also be damaging for brands and people. Follower counts don’t say much about engagement, and people may start buying more followers if they think it will get them more brand deals. See here for more information about purchasing likes and followers.

How to Hide Likes

It’s easy to change your Instagram settings so you switch it back and forth until you figure out what works best for you. You probably want to know how to hide likes on Instagram. It will only take a minute or two.

Open your Instagram app and click the three lines in the top right corner. Then go to settings and then privacy.

Select “posts” and you’ll see where you can hide likes and view counts. You can change it as many times as you want and you can do it from your mobile device.

Instagram Like Count

Almost every popular social media platform should be concerned about Instagram. The platform is transforming and trying to make a difference in society.

If you use Instagram for business or personal use, you’ve no doubt paid attention to the like count system Instagram has. Now that you know more details and the pros and cons of Instagram like count, you can make an informed decision about your account.

We hope you’ve found this article helpful. If so, keep browsing our page for more tech and marketing tips and tricks.