Horizon Media Study Finds Instagram’s Move to Hide Likes Generates a Collective Shrug (but with a Glimmer of Hope)

NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Horizon Media, the world’s largest independent media agency, today announced findings of its ongoing Finger On The Pulse (FOTP) poll. Each week, Horizon Media tracks and publishes how news and cultural events can shape or shift people’s thinking and behavior. 

Recently, Instagram announced they would hide “Likes” on many US users’ posts (this following previous “hidden likes” tests in Canada, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand). As Instagram’s CEO shared, “the idea is to de-pressurize Instagram” and make it a space that’s more focused on connections, conversations and community, especially for young people. This move generated significant conversation across other social platforms, with Horizon tracking over 42,000 comments in the two weeks following the announcement on November 7th.

However, looking at the recent announcement of another change to a social platform, Horizon found that the volume of conversation generated by the Instagram “likes” debate was almost half of the conversation around Twitter’s ban of political ads (75,000 comments in the two-week period after the announcement, 10/29-11/11). Still, with this level of online chatter, Horizon Media wanted to understand people’s thinking related to this news and used its Finger on the Pulse panel to ask 479 people a battery of questions to uncover attitudes towards Instagram’s decision and whether it’d change their behavior.

Horizon Media believes that the majority of social media users, including frequent Instagram platform users, are reacting to Instagram’s decision with, at best, a shrug of the shoulders; it makes some sense to them but it’s not news that generates genuine excitement, is often viewed as unnecessary and, for many,  feels like it’s a little like closing the barn door after the horse has already bolted. Interestingly, when Horizon analyzed social media conversations, among the positive chatter, many comments are from brands, businesses and influencers not just regular platform users.

The key FOTP findings are that of those respondents who answered, some people recognize (primarily from a rational standpoint) the positives that hiding likes can represent, it’s more prevalent that respondents struggle to understand why Instagram is making this decision now and what benefit it’ll truly have – a struggle created via a combination of perceived lack of need, lack of personal relevance and a feeling that Instagram’s decision is simply too late.  Among frequent social media users (daily/weekly use), 36% believe Instagram works fine the way it is, 27% state hidden likes will only negatively impact influencers/brands, not real people and 21% recognize it as a too-late attempt to create a safer online environment. These findings are consistent among frequent Instagram users – with 41% being fine with the current Instagram, 26% believing it won’t impact real people and 23% stating it’s too late.

For those who believe it’s a positive decision to hide likes, the research found that among frequent social media users, 22% said it was a good thing as it could reduce mental health issues, 15% said that they’d feel more comfortable posting, and 14% stated that it’d allow them to post more authentic content. These findings were also consistent among daily/weekly users of Instagram. Even among people aged 18-34 and parents with children under 18 at home, the research did not indicate any significant differences than the broader social media and Instagram audiences.

Critically, from a usage standpoint it appears Instagram’s decision will result in a relatively unchanged status quo.  Among daily/weekly social media users, 62% would use it the same amount, 19% would use it a little more and 19% said they’d use it less (or even stop). Frequent Instagram users were slightly more positive - and represent a glimmer of hope for Instagram - with 26% saying the news would encourage them to use it more, 55% saying their usage would remain the same and 19% said they’d use it less.

For further information please contact
Horizon Media
Stephen Hall
(212) 220-1744
[email protected]