So here comes a dreadful piece of news for all the Instagram lovers. Instagram has opted for a rather strange route, at least as far as the likes are concerned. Read on below to know more.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- BACKGROUND
- WHAT IS THIS LATEST INSTAGRAM UPDATE ALL ABOUT?
- HOW IT AFFECTS NORMAL USERS/INFLUENCERS?
- HOW WILL THE BRANDS REACT TO THIS?
- WHAT WAS THE NEED OF THIS UPDATE?
- WHEN WILL IT BE APPLICABLE FROM?
- CAN I ESCAPE FROM THIS UPDATE?
Table of Contents
Background
Probably the most famous photo and video sharing platform (sorry Snapchat try a little harder), Instagram has completely changed the way one share and uploads photos. Individuals now make sure that every moment needs to be shared and enjoyed by their “followers”, at his own expense. Whether he/she has enjoyed their live moment is a thing of past, they just feel content in making sure that their followers are aware of their happenings.
All this has given birth to various Instagram Influencers and Bloggers. Its importance has been such that most of the users have started leaving their primary jobs and instead go for brand promoters and influencers. Apart from the nature of the job, what attracts people towards it is the fact that they are able to extract a decent income out of it.
But how does a brand decide which influencer to approach? Well, there are two ways of doing so. Either the user approaches the brand or vice versa. But in both of these cases, the majority of brands singles out one thing. Followers? No! It is the number of likes that each photo has managed to gather. Strange as it may sound, but there is a rather concrete reason for the same.
Taking help from a programming language (Ruby), it is quite easy to create fake followers for yourself. As a result, some of the struggling influencers opt for this unethical way of sky-rocketing their followers count. But even if you have a little bit of technical knowledge you could easily find out the bunch of fake followers from real people. And that is what brands are doing. They have started hiring Computer Engineers just for handling these social media channels.
But quite strangely it is not that easy gaining fake likes on your photographs. Hence this was a major parameter by which major brands used to distinguish ‘the famous from the mainstream’. But all that may now be a thing of past. Read on below to know more.
What is the Latest Update by Instagram? How Does it Affect the ‘Like’ Feature?
The latest update by Instagram is going to bring a major tectonic shift. Currently, if you upload any media over to Instagram, then all of your followers would have complete knowledge regarding the number of likes on your photo. Regardless of the type of media, the date of upload or the date he/she started following you- none of this matters. But soon this is all going to change.
In the latest update, the user who has uploaded his/her photos or videos would be the only person who could see the number of likes on his uploads. None of his followers would have any ideas whatsoever regarding the likes count on any uploaded media.
The followers here do not only include an individual but any page, brand or company that follows you. So what are its implications? What was the need for this update? When will this update be applicable? Could you escape from this update? Read on below to get answers to all such questions.
How Will This Update Affect Normal Users and Influencers?
With the likes metric out of sight, the focus will now be more on the content. The quality of posts will matter much more than the number of likes. The notion that what should be the best time to post a photo on Instagram will be a thing of the past. Although this update wouldn’t affect a normal user much, for an influencer it may nothing be short of a doomsday.
This is because today’s brands look for the public engagement that an influencer is able to gather. The major yardstick for judging this ‘engagement’ is the number of likes on any post. But since the likes will no longer be visible to these brands, influencers would now have to exert extra efforts and think out of the box to attract major companies.
So How Will The Brands React Now?
Look the brands aren’t going a step further by sending you DMs about your profile and bio. They will simply change their focus from user-centric to ad centric. So whatever was spend in influencer marketing will now be spent on paid advertising. Insta users, brace yourself, more ads are coming your way!
What Was The Need For This Update?
The Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Instagram’s parent company Facebook have this to say:
“We want people to be less interested in how many likes a post gets, and focus more on connecting with other people, We want your friends to focus more on the photos and videos you share, not on how many likes you get” – Mark Zukckerberg
So this was the official reason why the company decided to opt for this feature. But in reality, the reason is way more deep-rooted. Nowadays, there is an increasing number of incidents involving Instagram Influencers suffering from anxiety, sadness, depression. If that wasn’t enough, many even committed suicide. The reason was simple- they were not able to garner enough likes than their counterparts. This resulted in the brands approaching their frenemies.
To cancel out this effect, the company decided it was in the best interest of everyone to get away with this Like Visibility feature once it for all.
When Will This Update be Applicable From
I’m afraid there is some bad news in store for all of you. As opposed to earlier reports that it is just on paper, and may not be implemented any time soon, this feature has in fact been applicable in many countries. These includes:
So Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand are the countries where this update has been implemented. Although, do note that this update is rolling out ina phased manner. This means that not everyone is receiving the update simultaneously. Some might receive it at an earlier stage than others. But the process has started to gather pace. In Canada alone, more than 70% of users have reported that this feature is now applicable in their app. Therefore, it is a matter of times before it gets expanded to other countries.
Could I Escape From This Update?
Now, this is the major question for which you all want an answer. Although in the beginning, this feature will be applicable only in the developed countries, sooner or later the developing countries will also have to bear its brunt. So, in a nutshell, there is no way of escaping from this update. At max, there might be some delay in receiving an update, but ultimately someday it will land on your device. Sad but true!
Final Thoughts
See, on one hand, considering the latest news regarding the Instagram Influencers, this seems to be a pretty decent move. But hen you may have a valid counter-argument- Why should we suffer for their sufferings. And this is exactly my point. There are some people who are not psychologically strong enough to handle such situations. For them its a boon. But for others, who are well and truly successfully bloggers or are strong enough to fight such circumstances, it’s definitely a bane.
So the guys behind the “Multi-Billion Dollar Company” should have definitely looked at both sides of the coin. It should have acted in the best interest of everyone and provided this as an optional feature. This could have given the user to enable or disable the like count as and when they prefer to. What do you suggest? Drop your views in the comments section below. Cheers:)
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