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    HomeIn MediaGadget NewsInstagram Now Hides Photos & Videos Like Counts

    Instagram Now Hides Photos & Videos Like Counts

    Instagram has been testing and releasing new features over the past few years. This time, their new experiment is related to the like count from their user’s posted photos and videos.

    The photo and video-sharing social networking service,  owned by Facebook, is expanding the number of users that can access its newest feature. Yesterday (July 17th) more users had the option to publicly hide the like count on their posts. This feature was first announced in May.

    Now, the company declared that it’s now expanding its hidden like count test to six more countries: Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. The test first started in Canada, where the people included in it had their likes hidden by default. While these people had to opt out to show the likes publicly, they could still see that same like count when viewing their own content.

    In short, the new feature hides users’ public like count on both videos and photos in the feed, on the web, and within profiles. So, you can now easily get Instagram likes without showing your number.

    At the time of the initial announcement Instagram stated that it wants followers to “focus on the photos and videos you share; not how many likes they get.”

    Instagram Likes

    However, it’s safe to say that the number of likes given to any photo or video are the ultimate way of placing value on user’s posts. Having more likes on a post basically means that that post is more impressive than one that has a smaller like count. While this can boost some people’s self-esteem, it can also bring others’ self-esteem down. For those who display this mindset and do care about their social media content’s like count, if they post something that ends up getting little to no likes at all, it can be a terrible feeling.

    The new feature might prove to be really useful for both users and the company, since hiding the like count might give people the confidence to post more of the content they actually want to post, instead of just photos or videos with content that guarantees engagement, like food photos or sexy body selfies.

    David Novak
    David Novakhttps://www.gadgetgram.com
    For the last 20 years, David Novak has appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV around the world, reviewing the latest in consumer technology. His byline has appeared in Popular Science, PC Magazine, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Electronic House Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics, Forbes Technology, Readers Digest, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Glamour Magazine, T3 Technology Magazine, Stuff Magazine, Maxim Magazine, Wired Magazine, Laptop Magazine, Indianapolis Monthly, Indiana Business Journal, Better Homes and Garden, CNET, Engadget, InfoWorld, Information Week, Yahoo Technology and Mobile Magazine. He has also made radio appearances on the The Mark Levin Radio Show, The Laura Ingraham Talk Show, Bob & Tom Show, and the Paul Harvey RadioShow. He’s also made TV appearances on The Today Show and The CBS Morning Show. His nationally syndicated newspaper column called the GadgetGUY, appears in over 100 newspapers around the world each week, where Novak enjoys over 3 million in readership. David is also a contributing writer fro Men’s Journal, GQ, Popular Mechanics, T3 Magazine and Electronic House here in the U.S.

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