Instagram, owned by Facebook, sparked a wave of reactions earlier this year when it began a test that removed the likes counter from user posts. According to a recent leak, this test will move to Facebook for some users.
This change was first monitored by reverse engineering specialist Jain Mancheng Wong, who discovered the new behavior in the Facebook application code for Android.
Instead of seeing a full count of likes on a particular post, Facebook users who take this quiz will simply see the names of a handful of friends who click the Like button.
But don't rush and start looking for the missing likes in the news feeds of your Facebook page, as the company has confirmed to TechCrunch, a tech-related site, that it will actually remove the count of likes in the accounts to be tested, but this change has yet to take effect.
However, the company did not disclose when it plans to start the test or where to start (perhaps the very countries where Facebook is conducting its similar experiment on Instagram are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand).
As for the reason for such an experience, Engadget, a technical site, says that Facebook is trying to relieve some of the social pressures that come with sharing on social media, where the user will not be concerned about the number of likes his posts on Facebook, but in In contrast, some people want to know this number.
Ultimately, if Facebook approves these tests to become globally certified features, the company will have an opportunity to reshape the behavior of individuals on its platform. Removing the likes counter will mean that you can't immediately gauge the popularity of a post. Imagine people sharing their content without being fully aware of it.
According to Engadget, changes like this won't solve all the problems facing platforms like Facebook - and there are many - but they could be steps in the right direction.