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Facebook confirms testing its social network without one of its most famous features; the famous "like" or "I like" in French. The information had already leaked a few weeks ago but this time the largest social network in the world officially confirms it. The Californian firm plans to hide the counting of the number of "likes" obtained on each publication. Facebook announces the launch of a test phase, first in Australia.
With our correspondent in San Francisco, Éric de Salves
This is one of the most used functions of the internet, ubiquitous on social networks since its appearance in 2009. And yet Facebook is thinking today to remove the famous button "like" its platforms. According to many experts the race for "I like" would have negative psychological consequences.
Too much pressure
This competition would generate too much pressure on the users who would push them to self-censor by posting less or little content for fear of not being "liked" enough. Some would prefer to delete publications that are not sufficiently liked. However, this self-censorship is less traffic and therefore less advertising revenue for Facebook whose business model is based entirely on targeted advertising.
It is on Instagram that Facebook would have noticed this trend of users to post more easily ephemeral content that fades after a few hours. It is also on instagram that the first tests were conducted in seven countries. The principle is simple: the counter of "like" disappears but the "likes" do not disappear completely. They are only visible to the author of the publication.
Beginning of tests in Australia
This week, Facebook officially confirms to the American press the launch of these tests, first in Australia. If judged conclusive, a version without a "like" counter of the social network could be gradually generalized.
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