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03rd Sep 2019

It looks like Facebook are planning on hiding their like counts

Rory Cashin

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It would be following in the footsteps of what Instagram implemented in Ireland recently.

Initially, Ireland was just one of seven countries in the world where Instagram hid users’ like counts on a trial basis, along with Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

Apparently the trial has proven successful, with the anxiety of posts not getting enough likes taken away with one piece of coding, and the hide-count is being lined up to expand to even more countries.

Now it looks like Facebook are planning on testing out something similar, after an app researcher discovered code on Facebook’s Android app that hides the exact amount of likes on a post from everyone but the original poster.

Following this discovery, Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch that they are considering running a test that would hide users’ like counts, but that test has not yet begun.

Hiding the like counter on Facebook may help continue to fight against that social media anxiety of the fear of posting something that won’t get as many likes as others.

Previously, JOE spoke to Brendan Kelly, a professor of psychiatry in Trinity College, who said: “Clicks and attention are now as important as money. We should spend these wisely, as we do our money. Most human unhappiness results from people comparing themselves with other people.”

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