by Instagram won’t show Like counts to users in the United States, beginning this week, as the social site continues its experiment…
Instagram will conceal Likes from people in the United States as part of an ongoing test, starting this week. CEO Adam Mosseri made the announcement this weekend at the WIRED25 conference.
Instagram Hiding Likes Test Expands to the US
The Facebook subsidiary first built the framework for the experiment, initially spotted by code sleuth Jane Manchung Wong, back in April.
The test debuted thereafter in Canada. Instagram then expanded it to six more countries: Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Not long after, parent company Facebook did the same, starting in Australia.
The Instagram test of hiding Likes is part of a strategy to get people to focus on content, rather than counting Likes.
Although, Likes won’t completely disappear. While they’ll be missing from the Feed, on the web, and in profiles, original authors can still see them — just not the public.
WATCH: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announces that the platform will start hiding likes for US audiences starting next week. It’s the latest step in Instagram’s quest to become the safest place on the internet. https://t.co/BGkMG57rdk #WIRED25 pic.twitter.com/WNTyAPVhaD
— WIRED (@WIRED) November 9, 2019
