Instagram’s Money Making Manipulation
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d be aware of Instagram’s game-changing move: removing likes.
#gasp
While your limitless supply of digital hearts remains, your ability to view the number of likes on posts other than your own has been removed…for mobile.
Since Instagram’s emergence, many have used the platform as a highlight reel to showcase life’s best moments and their best angles. Likes no longer render support and may instead trigger a myriad of opportunities for degrading comparison.
If you’re a long-time ‘grammer’ you may recall a time where your feed was saturated with CamWow filtered selfies. Fast forward eight years and every second person is attempting the impossible: wearing a glowing mouthguard in an appealing way as an encouragement for followers to use their discount code and purchase an enamel bleaching kit.
Likes have evolved to be a venus flytrap luring its victims by an immaterial infatuation. The quantitative fixation squishing hostage’s self-esteem. Likes have become a pre-requisite for friendships and a mechanism for strengthening influencer’s credibility.
Instagram has marketed the scheme as an attempt to shift focus from likes and redirect attention to the content itself. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri told BuzzFeed News he is aware of people’s angst regarding likes. He hopes the removal will create a less pressurised environment allowing people to comfortably express themselves.
New York Psychotherapist Liz Beecroft identifies numerous openings for unfavourable comparison between users due to the visual format. The association of a numerical value with content leaves users open to scrutiny. Beecroft feels assured Instagram’s project will protect users from these superficial metrics.
Professor and Associate Dean at Pace University Randi Priluck agrees with Beecroft, confirming that the update will no longer highlight levels of popularity. Priluck does, however, anticipate ongoing issues as individuals’ likes remain collated therefore not completely diminishing the competitiveness for likes and moreover remaining a popularity contest.
The media has cast a ray of positivity on Instagram as the latest scheme has been interpreted to benefit users’ mental health. However not one Instagram representative has discussed the removal of likes as a mental health project.
Instagram initially announced the update on Twitter stating “we want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes you get.” Followed by “we’re looking forward to learning about how this change might benefit everyone’s experience on Instagram.”
Key word: experience. Not mental health.
One can then beg the question, is the motivation to better one’s ‘experience’ or line Instagram’s pockets with more money?
Ever wondered how a ‘free’ platform makes money? The answer is simple: you.
Advertising platforms begin by monitoring and documenting online behaviours. The more interaction between user and site, the more information generated. Following this, extracted data is analysed. Advertisers are then sold the guarantee that the platform’s software will adeptly link retailers with customers.
96.6% of Instagram’s parent company Facebook’s revenue comes from advertisers validating the significant role user data has in generating income.
Companies dependent on data extraction will continue designing pathways until they’ve mapped everyone’s digital movements. Data collection is the objective.
65% of Instagram’s population is aged between 18 and 34. The progressive rebrand may entice those without a profile to join.
Social Native Founder and CEO David Shadpour identifies Instagram’s like system as a deterrent discouraging uploads. The fear of judgement from posting can only be prevented by not posting at all. Shadpour argues that the removal of likes relieves the pressure, consequently boosting uploads and prolonging time spent on the platform in the process.
The removal of likes may then persuade people to think of the platform as a judgement free zone. Parent’s may find comfort in knowing their child can’t compare their number of likes to their peers. Retired grey nomads may embrace Instagram as a platform to showcase their blurry, zoomed-in iPad quality snaps from their Tasmania expedition.
More users. More data. More money.
Many publications supporting Instagram have referenced the ‘Status of Mind’ research from the Royal Society for Public Health. The report, however, does not mention Instagram likes at all. No correlation between likes and mental health was discussed throughout the entirety of the report. Of the seven recommendations, removal of likes is not one of them. One suggestion was to disclose digitally manipulated images. If Instagram was genuinely attempting to better mental health, then why has not one of the report’s suggestions been implemented?
Instagram is a multi-billion-dollar company with the objective of growing their fortunes to an astronomical amount. A company with such a high ranking has the funds to employ a stellar PR team. Look at their press releases. Not once has mental health been at the forefront of their discussions. In my opinion, Instagram is here to make money, not friends.
