From the beginning of its "experiment" with hiding likes, Instagram has maintained that the move is meant to improve users' mental health. But according to three former Facebook employees, there's another, more selfish reason why the photo sharing app is making this change: it'll get you to post more often.
Instagram has officially expanded its "test" of the removal of public-facing like counts worldwide. The expansion was announced this morning on Twitter, where the company also attempted to reassure "creators" (read: influencers) that the company is not trying to take away their livelihood.
Landscape and travel photographer James Popsys has noticed a troubling habit lately: he's posting things "for the dopamine hit," and he doesn't believe he's the only one. The result, says Popsys, is a "photographic groupthink," caused by social media, that encourages people to post the same thing over and over, just because it's popular.
Instagram's controversial experiment with hiding public like counts is only live in seven countries, but it's already inspired some freakouts from influencers who claim the change is crippling their engagement and destroying their livelihood.