Instagram’s gone and done it! They’ve removed like counts on posts in Australia. Eek!

What does it mean?

You can no longer view how many likes other people’s posts have received. It first happened in Canada, and now it’s been rolled out here – as well as Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil and NZ.

Time will tell what effect this will have.

But, from what I can surmise, it could impact businesses that rely heavily on Instagram for sales. Likes can be a form of ‘social proof’ when it comes to viewing a shoppable Instagram post. If you see one with more likes it can lead you to believe it’s more trustworthy – as opposed to one that’s received little engagement. So potentially, fewer likes could mean fewer sales. Again, time will tell.

You can still see your own likes, fortunately – this is beneficial when it comes to reporting and measuring success.

Potentially the biggest area it’ll have an impact is with influencers…

If you’re a brand searching for an influencer, it’s going to be harder. No longer can you do a quick analysis on the level of engagement, as now all you’ll see is the follower count. You’ll need to either use a program which gives you engagement data, or reach out directly and rely on information provided from influencers – or from influencer marketing agencies.

Comments on posts will certainly become more important as they will become really the only outside direct measure of engagement. So, creating conversations is now more important than ever.

One thing is, people don’t see how many views on Instagram Stories, and that hasn’t affected people from liking them or using/engaging with them. So potentially it won’t have a huge impact, as we’ve already been conditioned to it?

Perhaps rather than investing so much into influencer marketing, brands will start to spend more directly on ads within Instagram.

What are your thoughts? Do you see it impacting your business?