As social media becomes more and more prevalent in our lives, we see studies show the effects it can have on our well-being, mental health, and self-perception. One recent study in particular explored the impact Instagram likes can have on teens.
If we start comparing ourselves or basing our self-worth on the amount of likes we get online, especially compared to popular influencers and celebrities, we’re going to have a bad time. This is why many Instagrammers have toyed with the idea of hiding likes in the past.
However, Instagram decided to settle on a happy medium – giving users the option to hide themselves from their own posts or from other Instagram posts.
Throughout this article, we’ll talk about the different ways you can hide Instagram likes, as well as Why? you might want to.
Why would you want to turn off likes on Instagram?
In the study described earlier, researchers took a group of 182 students aged 13 to 18 and had them imagine a situation where one of their Instagram posts got too many likes and one got too few. Participants who imagined receiving some likes had far more negative feelings than positive ones, especially those who were more sensitive to feedback.
It is true that social media likes can have a negative impact on a user’s mental health. Like it or not, social media has a proven effect on our minds. So it can be helpful to prevent your followers from seeing the number of likes of your post, especially as an influencer.
However, even as a brand, there can be advantages to turning down the choice.
First, the choice you get is a vanity metric. There is little importance in measuring the overall performance of your Instagram marketing efforts. Likes have become second nature as we scroll through, so it doesn’t make sense any further than that.
Instead, you want to focus on Instagram metrics like comments and shares. This shows that your post resonated enough for users to deliberately take action.
how to hide likes on instagram
You can hide likes on your own Instagram posts as well as on Instagram accounts you follow.
Comment: Even as a social marketer, you may come across a parent, older sibling or younger social media users. If you have a teen or young adult on Instagram, this can be a great setting to change. Encourage them to update this so that online comparisons are less.
Let’s go through how to hide likes on Instagram step-by-step.
How to Hide Likes on Others Instagram Posts
If you want to hide likes on others’ Instagram posts in your feed, you can easily do so in your settings. This can help prevent you from comparing personal accounts or competing accounts to your own. It will also force you to see more than like counts as you scroll.
Follow these steps to hide likes on others’ Instagram posts:
step 1. On your profile, tap the hamburger menu, then tap Adjustment,
step 2. In Adjustment menu, tap privacy,
step 3. In privacy menu, tap positions,
step 4. toggle Hide likes and view count option on.
Now you’ll see something like this on an Instagram post:
Liked by “instead of watching User name And 11,034 others,” you’ll see a simple “liked by” User name And other,
How to Hide Likes on Your Instagram Post Before Publishing
Let us now cover how to hide your own Instagram post likes. Unfortunately, there is no setting that hides itself All Your number of Instagram likes—you’ll have to do this for each individual post. But, you can make this change by either whereas you are publishing the post or Later you publish.
step 1. Start creating your next Instagram post as usual. When you reach the section to write your caption, tag products or add a location, tap advanced settings,
step 2. Here, you will see the toggle option next Hide likes and view count on this post To make sure your post likes are hidden. It will also hide the views for videos posted to your feed. However, this option is not available for reels.
step 3. In advanced settingsYou can make even more changes before publishing, such as adding alternative text to your Instagram posts or even turning off commenting for those using screen readers.
Here’s an example of what it would look like hiding Instagram likes by home decor brand Attitude, which has hidden likes and view counts on almost all of their Instagram posts:
How to hide likes on your Instagram post after publishing?
If you’ve already published your post and realize you forgot to hide the like count, don’t worry—you can easily toggle it off once you’ve shared your post with your audience.
step 1. Go to the post you want to update and tap three point menu icon to access more settings and preferences.
step 2. then just tap hide like count To make sure no one can see how many likes your post has got.
step 3. This menu also gives you other options, such as turning off comments retroactively, pinning posts to the top of your profile, and more.
How to see your likes on Instagram, even if they’re hidden
Even though neither you nor anyone else will be able to see your likes publicly, you can still track them internally to track your growth. Likes are a vanity metric, but you can still track them as your account grows to measure your reach.
Even after hiding it in your feed, you can still see your Instagram likes in two ways.
First, you can access your likes data within the built-in Instagram Insights. As long as you have an Instagram Business account, you can access your analytics by going to your profile and tapping Insights switch.
In your Instagram Insights, you can view the content you’ve shared recently and see how many likes, comments, impressions and reaches.
You can also use your Sprout social account to check your likes and other analytics. Within the Instagram Business Profiles report, you’ll find how many impressions, followers, likes and more your account has received during the specified time period.
You still have access to important data to input into your monthly reports without fanning the fire of the numbers on Instagram.
Consider whether hiding Instagram likes is right for your brand
Should you start hiding Instagram likes? If you are targeting a younger audience with your products or services then this can be the right choice. Or, if you just want to ignore those numbers because choice is a vanity metric, anyway. Track more important metrics, such as overall engagement, such as comments and shares, to find out whether people are resonating with your posts.
And to learn more about how to create content that engages your audience, check out our most recent Sprout Social Index™. Use this research to boost your social media strategy and find out what social media users like to see from brands and businesses.
How to hide posts likes on Instagram: A step-by-step guide first appeared on Sprout Social.
