You can now hide Instagram likes, what does this mean for influencer marketing?

It's a tale as old as time (well, as old as 2010 - the year that Instagram launched): you pull your phone out for a quick social media scroll, end up getting sucked into a comparison vortex and by the time you've finished, feel a whole lot less enthusiastic about your own posts/life. For some, it can even lead to displaying signs of low mood, stress or anxiety in their day to day, too. Sounds familiar?

If yes, you're far from alone - and it's one of the reasons that Instagram is rolling out new feature today, that allows users to hide the number of likes that appear on their feed (or their own posts). That way, there can be no comparing of numbers and hopefully, the app will become an easier place to spend time for some users who on occasion, find it tough. The update will also appear on Facebook too.

In full, this new feature allows users to:

• Hide like counts on all posts in their feed

• Hide like counts on their own posts, so others can’t see how many likes their posts get

• Hide like counts on others’ posts

• Choose to hide like counts before sharing a post. People can turn this setting on or off, even after the post goes live

These new options were inspired by a need to offer a more empowering and positive experience for all online: What one person wants from their Instagram and Facebook experience is different from the next, and people’s needs are changing. We’ve been working closely with third-party experts to better understand how to empower people, build self-awareness and shape a more positive experience on Instagram.

They added that plenty of research was conducted beforehand, to test if hiding like counts might depressurise people’s experience on Instagram, and found that for many, removing likes was a welcome change. However, for others, it was "annoying" as people use like counts "to get a sense for what’s trending or popular" – hence it being an individual choice.

What does this mean for social media marketing?

This is great news for influencers, celebrities and brands. There was an on-going fear for the last 12 months while Instagram beta-tested the ‘whole no likes thing’ that it could become a permanent change for all accounts. This would have damaged influencer marketing in such extreme ways, it would take away the urge to use them and influencers would have to rely on much more equipped analytics such as CTR and comments.

During the testing stage it was unsure if even the owner of the accounts would be able to see the total number of likes received, without this it would be very hard to judge who is a high quality influencer to use for brand marketing.

Overall we love this update, it helps with those who struggle with the mental impact on social media while keeping influencer, celebrity and brand marketing valuable.