You may or may not have heard that Instagram is getting rid of the like count. (WHAT?!)

It’s a little shocking to think Instagram is removing what we consider to be the key function of the social media platform. I mean, don’t we measure our social media popularity on how many likes we have? 🤣

But what does it mean?

Here’s the deal. “Likes” mean a lot of things. Such as:

• “I like this.”
• “I see you.”
• “This is pertaining to my interests.”
• “Bookmarking for later.”
• “Just want to read the comments.” Just being real! Grab the popcorn.
• “I don’t necessarily like this picture, but I’m happy for you (my personal favorite! Hah!).”

Since a single like can mean so many things for different people, is this really the best method of measurement? As social media and Instagram have evolved, so has the way we interact with each other and the brands we follow. Engagement can now be measured by comments, reactions to an Instagram story, shares, clicking to shop, triggering a new follow, or a visit to the person or brand’s Instagram profile or website, or how many views a video received.

On top of that, we are able to measure reach, completion rates, and exits. There is so much data to be analyzed, and it helps businesses figure out exactly how long a video should be before their audience loses interest.

Likes just aren’t where it’s at anymore. It might be a weird change at first, but we’ll get used it.

What are your thoughts on the subject?