What Will Instagram’s ‘No More Likes’ Really Do?
(Photo Source: tubefilter.com)
Bella Breakdown
In a culture so heavily focused on online appearances, something as simple as a “like” on a post can add drastic “value” to someone’s self-perception. Social media has created an epidemic of comparison culture—it has become far too easy to know the whereabouts of everyone’s life (or the most glamorous moments they choose to share, not that time they had to change a tire in the rain while wearing a dress) and feel that your life is somehow not as shiny or less valuable as the people you follow.
In turn, many young social media users feel this insane pressure to appear as perfect as possible on their platforms and have inadvertently allowed the number of likes and comments they receive on posts to correlate to their self-esteem. Something that was created to connect people, inspire passion and creativity, and bring joy to your day through silly puppy videos has created a generation of people that feel lonelier and disconnected than ever before.
This comparison culture is only exacerbated by the concept of likes. The truth behind likes on Instagram, for example, is that many of us don’t put much thought into what gets a like and what doesn’t.
As far as I know, no one is sitting creating a pro-con list for each post they see on their timeline to help them decide whether or not it deserves a like; aimless scrolling and tapping is much more realistic. And still, the emphasis placed on likes—like to follower ration, amount of likes per length of time since the photo was posted, and optimal engagement hours—are concepts I hear talked about far too often for people that have much bigger things to worry about.
For someone who makes their living off of social media platforms, this emphasis may be more understandable and necessary, but the concept of likes becomes an entirely different story for 14-year-old girls seeking validation from peers via photos they post. In light of the negative impact many have experienced from a “like” obsessed culture, Instagram is testing out the removal of likes in the U.S. The notion has already been accepted and delivered in various other countries and has brought back the more personal side that social media was intended to build and foster.
Randomly selected users will be the guinea pigs for the lack of likes. If the test is met with enthusiasm and does not negatively affect user engagement, it is likely Instagram will roll the program out for everyone.
What will it look like? You yourself will still be able to see your own likes (which would probably decrease) but no one else’s, and no one will be able to see yours. The idea is to take the comparison culture aspect out of social media as much as possible without affecting actual content.
More is to come on how major platforms can adapt to a changing media world, but this is an enormous step in the right direction by the leader of the pack
