Instagram hides likes count in new experiment
The company is expanding the experiment from Canada to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Brazil
The Instagram application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017. PHOTO: REUTERS
Instagram is running a test in several countries to see whether hiding the like count and the number of views received by a video will have a positive impact on users or not.
The company is expanding the experiment from Canada to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Brazil.
While users will still be able to view the number of likes and views they received on a certain post, their followers will only be able to see their own name “and others” instead of the like count.
Instagram is hoping to combat cyber bullying
Through this, Instagram aims to try and decrease feelings of low self-esteem that are often kindled in younger users of the platform.
“We hope this test will remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive, so you can focus on sharing the things you love,” says Mia Garlick, director of policy at Facebook Australia and New Zealand.
The experiment will also direct followers’ attention to the image or video itself instead of the like count so that they may appreciate the story being posted.
Instagram is the third most popular social media platform, placing after Facebook and Youtube, with over one billion monthly users and 71 per cent of its users aged under 35.
With its fast growth rate, the app/site faces difficulty in curbing issues of self-image and mental health.
A 2018 survey done in York University, Canada, indicated that females in their youth feel insecure about themselves once they engage with posts of people they find more attractive than themselves.
A survey by the University of Pennsylvania found that undergraduates felt considerably less isolated and faced mental health problems at a lower rate than others if they restricted their usage of Instagram and other such platforms for a three-week time frame.
Facebook,Whatsapp, Instagram suffer global outage
Previous to this, Instagram won the title of the worst social media platform with regards to the effect it has on the youth’s mental health issues in a poll done in the UK.
Instagram acknowledges this issue and says its working on trying to solve it, which is why this experiment is being conducted. However, academics say that the posts themselves have a more harmful impact than the like count.
“The biggest impact of Instagram is the content,” Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University tells CNN. “The exposure to this constant stream of perfected images is what seems to hurt psychologically.”
This article originally appeared on Stylist.
The company is expanding the experiment from Canada to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and Brazil.
While users will still be able to view the number of likes and views they received on a certain post, their followers will only be able to see their own name “and others” instead of the like count.
Instagram is hoping to combat cyber bullying
Through this, Instagram aims to try and decrease feelings of low self-esteem that are often kindled in younger users of the platform.
“We hope this test will remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive, so you can focus on sharing the things you love,” says Mia Garlick, director of policy at Facebook Australia and New Zealand.
The experiment will also direct followers’ attention to the image or video itself instead of the like count so that they may appreciate the story being posted.
Instagram is the third most popular social media platform, placing after Facebook and Youtube, with over one billion monthly users and 71 per cent of its users aged under 35.
With its fast growth rate, the app/site faces difficulty in curbing issues of self-image and mental health.
A 2018 survey done in York University, Canada, indicated that females in their youth feel insecure about themselves once they engage with posts of people they find more attractive than themselves.
A survey by the University of Pennsylvania found that undergraduates felt considerably less isolated and faced mental health problems at a lower rate than others if they restricted their usage of Instagram and other such platforms for a three-week time frame.
Facebook,Whatsapp, Instagram suffer global outage
Previous to this, Instagram won the title of the worst social media platform with regards to the effect it has on the youth’s mental health issues in a poll done in the UK.
Instagram acknowledges this issue and says its working on trying to solve it, which is why this experiment is being conducted. However, academics say that the posts themselves have a more harmful impact than the like count.
“The biggest impact of Instagram is the content,” Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University tells CNN. “The exposure to this constant stream of perfected images is what seems to hurt psychologically.”
This article originally appeared on Stylist.