Without the 'like' metric, how will brands measure engagement?

Facebook-owned social media platform Instagram has confirmed that its test of hiding likes and views count on posts is going global, including India. The tweak has already been tested in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

What it essentially means is that only account owners will be able to see their like counts while the followers will not see the numbers on the post. The feature called 'Private likes Count' comes shortly after Instagram omitted the 'Activity' tab from the platform – a section where you could scroll through the activity of those you follow.

The decision to conceal the number of likes and views was announced in April, when Instagram in its F8 conference revealed that the platform was going to test the changes in Canada. Since then, the test has been rolled out globally, and is on the verge of permanence.

These decisions, according to Instagram, are steps to provide complete privacy and transparency on the network. Many people were quick to point out that the change could curb the undue stress users harbour on account of comparative popularity and social recognition. Which means, you no longer need to worry if the numbers on your posts aren't socially 'fascinating'.

However, this potentially impacts brand advertising and influencer marketing on Instagram. The Instagram user base includes a great deal of fake accounts who have garnered a huge number of followers and 'likes' through third party means (inorganically), not to mention the ever-present bots. A good litmus test to recognise such cons was through the number of likes on their posts – many followers, lesser likes equals fake. But with this feature gone, how does it change influencer marketing as we know it? More importantly, how does the industry feel about this change?

Industry Speaks

Priya Jayaraman, chief executive officer, Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate

I always felt ‘Likes’ was a vanity metric. And not a very responsible one for any brand to embody. This move I think is super smart, since it will push us as a community to make social media an integral part of the marketing and brand journey and make it accountable for business outcomes and driving buying / purchase/ consumption behaviour for brands. And likes which can be fleeting – may be replaced with comments which is actually a conversation. It may sound Utopian, but that’s what social platforms were intended to do in the first place.

Brands will now have to operate in a space where all influencers are now stripped of likes and are equal – the real consumer as the influencer emerges. If the influencer is a consumer and has a great story to tell, Instagram is the place to be. That’s where this is headed. When content can actually be user generated. This also, I feel, will give rise to influencer-led communities as a way for larger influencers to be relevant due to their ability to create consistent and differentiated content and stand for brands and causes.

Navin Theeng, creative lead, COUP

Instagram has always been an evolutionary product. It started as a way to geo-locate photos . But as it saw users taking to image filters as a way of self-expression, the focus shifted to that. As user preference and usage habits changed, so has Insta. But hiding the number of likes and views sounds like a tectonic shift. Not just for Insta but social media platforms as a whole. But is it really?

For users, it will upend it as a metric tracker for social appreciation. People have grown used to the mild endorphin hit that each ‘like’ gets. More likes=more highs. Now ‘like’ junkies will have to find another way to get their rush. But will it see an exodus of engaged Instagram users to other platforms? Not likely (pun unintended). After the usual hue and cry, users will evolve to use comments and emojis to show appreciation of Instagram posts. So engagement will be of a higher quality and will actually increase. For what’s better than a ‘like’? Someone putting in the effort to write in a comment.

For brands, it was never a metric that mattered. So for brands that get social media marketing, nothing much changes. Other engagement metrics are far more important. Even for influencer marketing, there are enough tools to track campaign metrics. For users, it will create a lot of sound and fury, but signifying nothing much eventually.

Mukund Raina, branch head, Enormous, Delhi

Most brands chase quality instead of quantity - I think this is going to be just more of that. What's also going to be happening is that with the ability to shop on Instagram, I'm speculating that they might add the functionality wherein the brands would add links to the posts. Ideally, that would become the medium to engage with the brand.

Also, brands do a fair amount of audit about the influencers that they are approaching. So I don't think it's going to make much of a difference to how brands look at Insta celebrities/influencers. Only that the audit process will become stronger and tighter. And the celebrities and influencers that the brands trust, who are known to drive brand engagement, and are also a great and appropriate fit for the brand - are the ones that will continue to prosper, the others will get left behind. It's more like separating the wheat from the chaff.