We're on a site right now that hides like counts for these reasons :D

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2595605

Oh wow, that's really on point. I'd be cool if the front page would be like that as well for a week to see how it would be different. (pg if you're seeing this.)

The sort order for the frontpage is already determined by a secret score that is only partly related to upvotes.

I'm glad they stuck with hiding the like counts.

That's just the journalist's take on the feature.

In Instagram's app itself, the feature is elaborated as follow:

> We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only the person who shared a post will see the total number of likes it gets.

source tweet: https://twitter.com/wongmjane/status/1118970853654290432

Instagram then stated to the press they are:

> exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about

It's also possible that they're experimenting with this in anticipation of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19665221 (a proposed ban on likes for children).

Plenty of sources out there on network theory and information cascades.

Maybe I'm the minority, but seeing a post with a ton of likes will discourage me from liking it. One like has no impact among thousands. Same reason I don't upvote posts on the front page, they already made it there so why bother upvoting.

Only the first few votes give any kind of information. If you’re waiting to vote, it doesn’t matter if you’re voting with the crowd or against it. Your vote is meaningless after the cascade has started.