Instagram has announced that its test of hiding the public ‘Like’ count and video views of some users is being expanded globally. After originally testing the feature in Canada earlier this year, the company rolled it out in Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand back in July this year. The Facebook-owned social media platform now says that the program is now being rolled out to a small number of users around the world.
Starting today, we’re expanding our test of private like counts globally. If you’re in the test, you’ll no longer see the total number of likes and views on photos and videos posted to Feed unless they’re your own. pic.twitter.com/DztSH0xiq2
Instagram originally announced its plans to start hiding the public ‘Like’ count at its F8 developer conference last April as part of a wider plan to improve the quality of interactions on the platform. According to Mia Garlick, the director of policy for Facebook Australia and New Zealand, hiding the Like count would “remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive, so you can focus on sharing the things you love”.
