Who wants to see what Instagram looks like without ‘likes”

This morning I awoke to a world without a “like'" count. Sure, there is interesting content in my Instagram feed, but who is winning the validation game...now have no idea!

As many of you may know: Instagram is launching a test in Canada this week that will make the "like" counts on posts private for some users.

A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said the test is part of an effort to encourage users to focus on the photos and videos being shared, rather than how many likes they receive.

I happen to own one of the Instagram test accounts that have been neutered of “likes”. My initial reaction was excitement, as I am officially part of a social media experiment.  In practice I was surprised by how natural it felt. I really don't feel like I miss the ‘likes’. Which makes me think that maybe I am not judging the content of my Instagram feed based on the engagement of others.

From the Instagram app here is what a post, in my own feed, looks like without “likes”:

You can see that the interface change isn’t that dramatic. It still shows the summary of who has liked the post AND still shows comments along with the comment count. If I want to see the ‘like’ count I now need to view the Insights from this post.

 Above you can see the post insights view. What is interesting is that I can still see the “Likes” and “Comments” data when I view this post within the Instagram web app.

This is great news as it means that I can still use my Chrome plugin SocialCaddy to analyze engagement on any public Instagram account?

So begins the great Instagram experiment. Will it improve the self-esteem of millions of millennials? Will it dramatically change the landscape of Influencer Marketing? Who knows, but ‘like’ this post if you want me to keep updating you on my experience. (see what I did there).