Instagram is hiding likes globally. What's next for Influencers and Marketers? Here's all you need to know.

Wooho! Hello! Hello! Here's my second article around the same influencer marketing as the first one. If you haven't checked the first, it's right "here", go have a look.

Let's jump right into it, no BS.

Instagram is rapidly working on hiding likes in several countries, with USA being the next one. Let's be honest, if it's in USA, it's a big deal and Facebook owned Instagram is not just messing around anymore, this is serious. It all started when Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri announced at Wired Conference that they're testing hiding likes in USA starting next week. Although, his statement said it's to "depressurize" the app for young people, there is much more to it. It started off with Pop Music Queen Nicki Minaj announcing on Twitter that she's not going to post on Instagram anymore. Here's what it said:

And then Kim Kardashian rightly said it could have a negative impact for Celebrities and Influencers.

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Alright, scratch it off, while I'm in middle of writing this article, Instagram announced they're taking this test global.

Yes, Instagram is hiding likes for a few accounts, that means, it's now in India as well and I happen to have one of those test accounts that I'm working on for one of my projects - it's for piloting Star Maps in India under brand name Stellarmaps.in if you're curious. Alright, let's switch back to the hot topic. Here's how it looks:

So that means, nobody can see how many people liked this picture anymore, except for the post owner. Confused? Alright, let me quickly screenshot my account for Stellar Maps.

So this is my actual post (Stellarmaps.in is not so popular yet) and this is how the like count looks like. Now here's what I see in post insights.

Users can still "heart" the post but only I can see the number of likes for this particular post. (I'm already worried!)

What does this mean for Social Media Influencers?

Instagram is a huge part of an average social media influencer, they literally make money off of their likes. Facebook owned Instagram with this bold move, could kill the booming influencer marketing industry. Although, Instagram's reason for this move is explained to make it less stressful environment for everyone, the major reasons are far from this one.

Earlier in April 2019, Facebook sued a New Zealand based company for selling fake engagement on Instagram aka likes and followers. The founders of this engagement company raked a whopping $9.4 million just by doing this. India happens to have more fake influencers in a recent survey and the companies involved in influencer marketing faced a loss of $1.3 billion dollars in what seems so silly. I believe Facebook knows what they're doing and this move could solve the fake engagement problem, however, there's repercussions to this one.

Hiding likes was tested prior in Canada, NZ, Japan and a few other countries before this move, so I put in a little effort and hit up a Canadian friend with 70k followers on Instagram on how she got used to Instagram hiding likes. In simple words, here's what Michaela had to say:

Although users with a good following aren't worried as much, this move surely killed all "micro influencers" aka users with less follower base and are still into influencer marketing. Usually, Brands after a campaign request for the post insights to understand how their campaign did. A common insight example looks something like the screenshot I posted for Stellarmaps' account so scroll up to see. Although, Brands are currently spectating this bold move with a brief pause to see what happens, it doesn't stop them from marketing their products on Instagram.

Although influencers with a good following aren't that worried about Brands approaching them currently, since the smart ones develop a good rapport with brands and entertain good business relationships. At this point, it's too hard to say how this move is going to change the whole spectrum since Instagram is still only "Testing" and did not completely roll this feature out.

How are marketers going to approach this move?

Well, ideally any agency or a marketer would use certain platforms to find if a user is an influencer or not - based on their engagement and stuff like that, the platforms are still working so I don't see a problem there yet, however, this may change how marketers bet money on certain influencers. As I see it, it's a good move and marketers will re-set their objectives and priorities when they market on Instagram going forward.

So let's wait until this "hiding likes feature" is totally rolled out on Instagram and observe any trends or patterns that could shape Influencer marketing differently than how it is today.

Okay, I put in so much effort to bring some overview on Influencer Marketing to whoever is interested, so you can connect to me or follow me on LinkedIn to stay in touch. I keep posting relevant and interesting stuff I find here frequently.

About Me:

I'm Murli Kanne, a 27 year old aspiring Tech Entrepreneur who's dived into Social media world by an accident.