Facebook has said it may no longer make ‘likes’ publicly visible on posts.
Implementing this change could ease pressure on young people to seek approval with the number of likes. Instead, the focus would be on the content of posts.
Facebook-owned Instagram earlier said it was trialling hiding the number of likes in several countries. User are still able to see the number of likes, but this is not visible to other users.
“We are considering hiding like counts from Facebook,” a spokesman for the social network told AFP on Tuesday.
Facebook believes the removal of ‘likes’ could encourage users to share content more freely and more often.
Such a change could halt Facebook’s decline in popularity, especially among younger users, as people switch to other platforms.
Facebook is working to hide like counts, too!https://t.co/WnUrM12aZg
Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/TdT73wT6A0
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 2, 2019
