Why We Should Count our Blessings, (not our Likes).
This morning I spoke to Ryk Goddard at ABC Radio Hobart about the latest change to our Facebook experience. This week, the social media Titan announced the removal of likes counts , video views or reactions on social media posts. Before you gasp and panic, the author of posts can still access the data but it’s not going to be available to readers.
To listen skip to 1:02:00
So why has this happened and what is the intended outcome?
Let’s take a look:
Back in July, Instagram started to test the removal on a selection of countries. According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, the removal of Like counts on the mobile version of Instagram was a result of online wellbeing concerns. Anxiety, envy and social comparison was, and still is, rife online and vanity metrics cause undue mental health damage to many users*.
Something needed to change. Relying on Like counts as a type of validation, whether for private or business use had to be better managed by the social hand that feeds us.
According to Mosseri:
"We don't want Instagram to be such a competition. We want it to be a place where people spend more of their energy connecting with the people that they love and the things that they care about.
Now it’s Facebook turn and is using Australians as their guinea pigs. So will it work? Here’s our list of potential winners and losers
The winners
Storytellers who like to build genuine relationships
Content makers challenged by vanity metrics
Anyone who feels intimidated by Like counts and feels pressured to compete online (social anxiety be gone!)
The losers
Influencers who rely on the transparency of engagement rates for collaborations
Bots and Fake Accounts
Attention seekers
From where I sit, frankly - I am all for it. As a private user and as a marketer I have found no difference in my engagement rates and honestly haven't missed the feature. Talking to peers the feeling is mutual. Getting back to basics - why we connect online is what we should focus on, with less distraction and pressure to perform. Maybe if we re-consider how to begin a conversation with friends, family, clients or customers rather than post the best photos of our food or create click-bait for like counts, we might make more genuine connections and actually get along a lot better...
To read more on the subject here are some interesting articles I’ve found helpful:
TECH CRUNCH Active vs. Passive Social Media
MUMBRELLA Good Riddance to Instagram Likes
SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY Hiding Like Counts
*ROYAL SOCIETY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/status-of-mind.html
Love to hear your thoughts. Is it going to work or not? Let’s chat online and offline - this one could redefine how we use social media.