Back in May, Instagram began to test something radical on its platform, undercutting what many considered its most critical component: the “likes.” The beta test was limited to Canada and six other countries, but last Friday, despite waves of protest from users, Instagram announced it was expanding the change to the United States as well.
In this new version of the world’s favorite image-sharing platform, you (the poster) can still see how many “likes” your post has generated and who gave you those “likes.” But when you look at others’ posts, or when someone else looks at your posts, the only thing visible will be the post itself and the comments — the number of “likes” will now be hidden.
The change has made me reconsider my own tense relationship with Instagram. After I got a book deal last year, my agent implored me to “get on social” and “build my brand.” This meant Instagram. For a millennial, I’ve been pretty lazy with it, preferring to socialize digitally with my friends on Facebook instead. I didn’t relish learning an entirely new set of skills (I’m not a great photographer, nor a model) to engage in the rat race for people’s attention.
Did people this beautiful even exist before Instagram?
Comedian Richard Jenni once asked,“What is romance but a little Vaseline on the camera lens of life?” This should be Instagram’s motto. From the filters to the posing, everything is so stunning, so starry, so blissfully… fake. Did people this beautiful even exist before Instagram? Half the time when I use the app, I’m laughing out loud — and perhaps I have to. If I don’t use chortles to shake off the feelings of depression and anxiety that the app rains on so many of its users, they might seep under my skin to stay. But I can’t afford to bounce off Instagram entirely: it’s the second-most-popular social media platform in the United States. If I ignore it, no one will actually suffer but me.
I’m in favor of anything Instagram does to dismantle its toxic “comparison culture.” However, some users have characterized the removal of “likes” as misguided, giving in to the childish demands of millennial “snowflakes,” apparently ignoring the fact that we delicate millennials make up the majority of users. Others say the change will “hurt a lot of businesses” that use the number of “likes” on a post as a data point to gauge their own account’s health against their competitors’. Overall, many believe the change will alienate people who have built empires on the platform, even as the change fails to improve the experience for those with smaller accounts.
One of social media’s real draws is our need to know what’s going on within our community.
Instagram is a dopamine slot machine that you always win: your post gets a “like,” and your brain gets a hit. This is often touted as Instagram’s addictive draw, and with this change, that’s “not going anywhere,” according to Dr. Susan Weinschenk, behavioral scientist and author of the Brain Wise blog on Psychology Today. But there’s more to Instagram than “the swiping, moving the finger, seeing more — that doesn’t have to do with the feeling of being safe and validated and part of the group.”
The dopamine feedback loop is real, but Weinschenk argues that one of social media’s real draws is our need to know what’s going on within our community. “We are social animals. It’s part of how we have evolved,” she said. “Basically, humans want to know who’s on top, where [I am] in the hierarchy, how networked in [I am], how [I am] doing in terms of my status.” It’s the ability to expertly manipulate these instincts that makes Instagram the powerhouse that it is.
It’s not dopamine that’s associated with those feelings of, as Dr. Weinschenk put it, “being safe, being validated, being part of the group, bonding… that’s where serotonin, and possibly oxytocin come in. I would think — and I’d have to do more research — but I would think the change in the liking is probably not as related to dopamine as it would be related to some of these other chemicals.”
So by removing the “likes,” Instagram isn’t going to be taking away anyone’s dopamine addiction. We’ll all still want to swipe as much as we ever did before. However, the app is taking away one data point that people use to measure their standing in their community — and that’s upsetting. “If you take some aspects of [the “likes”] away, it will change things initially,” said Dr. Weinschenk. “When something you’re used to doing in a habitual way gets taken away, that can be jarring.”
Indeed. But while many influencers have decried the change as decimating something they’ve spent a lot of time building, other influencers don’t see a problem.
Beth is the owner of a 149,000-plus strong @spacewhippet account, which combines fun science facts with pictures of her dog. “I don’t think this change is going to affect my growth significantly,” she said. “Metrics used for growth are still available to brands [sponsors] who would approach me.”
She successfully used the account to raise thousands of dollars last year for the ACLU, and the science museums she often showcases are still very interested in being featured. If anything, she says, this change might help inhibit the temptation for businesses to create “faceless accounts,” which exist only to “like” a main account’s posts, unfairly increasing its popularity so the main account will get more sponsor attention.
“We have no control over Instagram… they will do whatever they want with their platform. Just continue to tell your story.”
Hannah, owner of @maggielovesorbit, with 140,000-plus followers, agreed. “What you see on Instagram has never been what it appears to be anyway,” she pointed out. “‘Likes’ don’t mean conversions.” When I asked her about the concern that potential sponsors might not see an account’s real strength, she said, “If a brand wants to work with you, they’ll ask for your data anyway, and you can still give it to them.”
When I asked if she was worried not about sponsors, but other Instagram users not being able to see a post’s popularity, she countered, “My blog doesn’t tell you how many visits it had that day, and that doesn’t make it more or less popular.” Ultimately, she sides with Instagram’s tight-lipped logic. “I think this change will have a good effect for… younger users, people who obsess over their accounts in an unhealthy way and are trying to make this a full-time career,” she said.
Hannah concluded with philosophical advice. “We have no control over Instagram… they will do whatever they want with their platform. Just continue to tell your story.”
For Canadian user @mattyhugh, who has been using the new Instagram since the day they rolled out the test, the change has been a blip on his radar. “I did notice it at first because it was a change, but it’s not something I think about.”
I asked Matt if he finds he’s comparing himself to others less than before, as he swipes through his feed. He said, “Not really… but I’d been using Stories more lately anyway.” Matt’s budding account for his dog, @dogtor_ellie_satler, gets “far more traction” on Stories, and, he surmised, “seeing the views on my Stories gives me more gratification.”
If anything, he said the change has forced him to reflect a little on “looking at my own habits and behavior around social media… but it hasn’t changed how I use it.”
Instagram will very likely survive our relearning how to get the same “community standing” assurances from it that we did before. “Even if you change how something works, people will probably figure out how to go around it… humans will use whatever technology is available in order to have particular types of social interactions,” said Dr. Weinschenk.
When I reflect on the reasons why I’d want other people to see my post “likes,” I realize none of them make me sound like the person Mr. Rogers believes I can be: I want to rub my success in the faces of my competition, feel more important than other brand or lifestyle ambassadors, and generally enjoy making someone jealous. If Instagram wants to make it harder for me to indulge those less-than-neighborly impulses, I’m grateful.
The question isn’t “Does applause matter?” but rather “Does applause still feel good if no one can hear it but the person onstage?” I believe the answer is yes. We just have to ask ourselves some hard questions about what we really do on social media — and why we do it.
