Instagram’s decision to remove likes
https://www.insider.com/how-removing-instagram-likes-could-help-influencer-mental-health-2019-11
Instagram has been experimenting with removing likes in seven different countries since July, and has now rolled out the feature worldwide. Social media has often come under fire for propagating mental health issues. Hiding the like feature will result in more genuine content being promoted in news feeds, thus lessening the negative effects of unrealistic beauty comparisons.
Removing likes could restore the platform back to its original intended purpose of a simple photo sharing platform to keep friends and family updated. The article compares it to the curation of a personal art gallery – the photos that exist are curated to the tastes of the users and have nothing to do with what other people like. Not only will Instagram promote the sharing of photos that people actually want to post and see, but it will also improve overall mental health.
However, this means that influencers have to work harder with their content. Because likes are hidden, the photo and the influencer’s personality are put more into focus, and an influencer cannot simply rely on their existing fame or on popularity. The article predicts that smaller influencers who have more quality content will be able to achieve more fame under this model.
The whole concept of Instagram and “likes” reminds me of the “rich get richer” effect, and how the community and culture of Instagram has previously been based on this model. Brands use “likes” to determine who they choose as influencers, and Instagram users use likes to determine based on snap judgement who to follow. Because of this rich get richer effect, there used to exist influencers who had a large amount of following based on popularity rather than on actual merit (quality of the content they post). However, by getting rid of likes, Instagram lessens the effects of the power law, and thus lesser known influencers who do post better content will get their content promoted.