So Instagram will be looking a lot differently soon. As rumoured Instagram are trying out a feature where the likes of a photo aren’t shown to the public. Only the poster will see it themselves. The list of countries undergoing the trial are:

Australia
Brazil
Canada
Ireland
Italy
Japan
New Zealand

Instagram’s focus is on the photos and videos that it’s users share. Not how many likes the content gets. As stated above only the content poster will get to see stats of photo likes/video plays and likes.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the community and if it will have an affect on how people use the social media platform.

Can people still grow without likes?
Could people still earn a living on Instagram?

Please see below an example of what it will look like if it goes live across the world:

(Instagram)