The new feature where Facebook and Instagram users decide if they want to publicly display the number of likes on each of their posts. These new tools allow people to filter content from their DMs (direct messages), along with people’s control overshare on the Facebook News Feed. The users can also control if their followers and friends can see the number of likes on their posts.
Facebook said that “Today, we’re announcing that everyone on Instagram and Facebook will now have the option to hide their public like counts, so they can decide what works for them. We tested hiding like counts to see if it might depressurize people’s experience on Instagram. What we heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some, and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense for what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving you the choice”
The company also said that “You can also choose to hide like counts before sharing a post. You can turn this setting on or off, even after it goes live. People want more flexibility, so we thought it would be important to give people the option. In the next few weeks, you will see both of these controls come to Facebook,”.
