A new Instagram feature that doesn't show likes might be coming

23 April 2019, 11:45

By Jazmin Duribe

So that's why people have stopped liking the photos of my dog. It just has to be…

Instagram used to be the place to share your best holiday snaps and watch what your ex-boyfriend is getting up to, but now it's a business.

Here Are The 10 Most Liked Instagram Photos Ever

Thanks to big brands and Instagram influencers there's serious money to be made by a simple Instagram post. But that's also meant bad news for us too, with more and more people now reporting how social media – especially Instagram – has negatively impacted their mental health.

Because of this, Instagram is testing a new feature that would hide how many likes a post has received. Code and security researcher Jane Manchun revealed what the new feature could look like on Twitter, Mashable reported.

In the images, each post lists a few of the users who have liked your post as well as "others", rather than revealing exactly how many people have hit the like button.

At the moment, Instagram shows the number of "other" people that have liked the photo and you can then click into it and see exactly who it is.

"We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get," a pop-up message on the screenshot read. "During this test, only the person who shared a post will see the total number of likes it gets."

Instagram appears to be trying to be more responsible about the role social media plays in the pressure we feel to be perfect or popular. By hiding likes, instead of focusing on it, we'd be forced to actually pay attention to the images and videos being shared.

Do you think this could work? Tweet us @popbuzz and let us know!