Australians are again made to be the guinea pigs of the social media world.
From last week Friday, we have been put on a trial basis by Facebook. Replicating what their little sister Instagram did in July, Facebook is now restricting others from seeing the number of likes and views you have on your posts. Only the author of the post has the ability to see their likes.
This is a world-first for Australian Facebook users and another social media adjustment for us. But it is all for the greater good. Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are known to affect young minds in a positive and negative way. Unfortunately, Instagram has had a hand in creating mental health issues affecting the young generation.
A 2018 Pew Research study found 43 per cent of teens aged 13 to 17 surveyed in the United States felt pressure to only post content that made them look good to others. In a world full of social media ‘influencers’ who look ‘perfect’ and receive millions of likes for their appearances young minds can find themselves trying and failing to attain that level of success.
Facebook Australia’s director of policy Mia Garlick said the change was based on wellbeing research and feedback from mental health professionals that like counts can cause social comparison.
So, something needed to be done to combat that negative outcome, cue in PR representatives to save the company. For a company like Facebook who is known for their blue thumbs up logo, this is a massive shift in narrative.
“[It is about] taking that number out of the equation, so that people can focus on the quality of their interactions and the quality of the content rather than on the number of likes or reactions.
It’s hoped that people will be more comfortable with sharing on the platform rather than feeling like it’s a competition,” said Garlick.
We currently still don’t have any results from the Instagram trail which has now been rolled over in seven countries: Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Italy and Ireland.
Garlick said it was still “early days” when assessing the results of the Instagram test, although she claimed there has been positive feedback from some mental health groups and users.
“The thing that we’re really trying to understand by extending this test to Facebook, is to see if the ways in which people use the platform are really different, and to see if this is useful across both platforms,” she said.
As for now, the trail is only affecting some Australians so don’t be confused if you can still see other people’s likes on your Facebook account.
The platforms have not said when the trial will end or if the changes will become permanent.
Do you think this is a smart decision from Facebook? Let us know below.