# Meta’s Testing Choices to Cover Like Counts on Reels, Replies on Threads

Meta’s seeking to give customers extra methods to manage how their metrics are displayed on Instagram, with a brand new check of elective view counts on Reels in your profile, whereas on Threads, it’s additionally giving customers the choice to conceal your Threads replies within the app.

Which each clearly serve totally different objective, however are additionally associated to the identical impetus of enabling customers to handle their expertise on every.

They usually additionally relate to the broader shifts in social media engagement, and the way we measure such.

First off, on Instagram, the platform is testing a brand new possibility that may allow creators to cover the view depend show of their Reels tab on their profile.

As you’ll be able to see in this picture, shared by app researcher Hammod Oh, the brand new possibility, which isn’t in reside testing as but, would allow you to modify off the Reels view depend that seems on the backside left of every of your Reels thumbnails.

That would get extra folks testing extra of your Reels, slightly than simply leaping to one of the best performing clips. Perhaps that’s extra helpful in a broader content material sense, although it may additionally make it more durable for profile guests to get one of the best sense of your Reels content material.

Meta’s additionally testing one other conceal possibility on Threads, although this one would allow customers to fully take away the itemizing of their Threads Replies from their profile.

As reported by TechCrunch, that may imply that solely “Threads” and “Reposts” can be seen in your profile, in the event you select.

Non-obligatory UI parts like this might help to make folks really feel extra comfy sharing their ideas in various context, with out the priority that different customers would possibly criticize them for his or her opinions and takes.

However then once more, in the event you’re going to publish feedback, possibly you must have to face by these opinions. As a result of the unique poster goes to must learn them both approach, so why do you have to have the ability to scale back the influence of these statements by yourself profile?

Both approach, each of those choices align with Instagram’s broader push to supply extra controls for customers on this respect, which started with its addition of elective like depend shows on IG, which it added again in 2021. Instagram discovered that some customers felt this was of profit, so slightly than conceal like counts for all customers, which it had additionally thought-about, it made it an elective setting as a substitute.

Which, actually, not many individuals appear to have switched on. However regardless, if it’s simple so as to add an off change for such, from a improvement perspective, it is smart for Meta and IG so as to add these as choices to cater to totally different customers.

Hiding sure efficiency information additionally aligns with the broader shift away from self-importance metrics, which some business folks have been speaking about for years.

Again in 2018, for instance, then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defined that he had ultimately come to the conclusion that the Twitter group had gone the mistaken approach in specializing in like and follower counts, as they incentivized the mistaken sort of person conduct. 

As defined by Dorsey:

“So whenever you open Twitter and also you see that [follower count] quantity, it’s really incentivizing you to extend that quantity. That will have been proper 12 years in the past, however I don’t suppose it’s proper at the moment. I don’t suppose that’s the quantity try to be centered on. I believe what’s extra vital is the variety of significant conversations you’re having on the platform.”

Now, the way you really quantify ‘significant conversations’ is much extra advanced, and no platform has obtained this proper as but. However Elon Musk has famous related about X, saying that the main focus must be on “unregretted person minutes”, and never on extra manipulable metrics.  

As such, information factors like followers and likes, are seemingly not as vital, and particularly so within the new period of social media, the place customers are more and more reliant on algorithmic “For You” feeds to indicate them what they wish to see. Thus they now not have to observe profiles to populate their stream.

That’s partly why Meta is now pushing creators to deal with views as a substitute, since you’re simply not going to achieve followers such as you did again within the day. Individuals are additionally liking much less content material, however sharing extra readily in DMs, and as such, views and shares are actually much more vital stats, when it comes to viewers engagement.

However that additionally means placing extra reliance on the platforms, slightly than utilizing them to construct your personal viewers, which could possibly be extra moveable in some contexts.

And both approach, within the above IG check, it’s additionally experimenting with eradicating view counts as effectively, although that’s in a barely totally different context.  

The underside line is that we’re usually getting caught up on the mistaken metrics for the present state of social media extra broadly. Extra algorithmic suggestions means fewer persons are going to observe particular person profiles, and extra sharing in DMs implies that likes will not be as large of a driver as they as soon as have been.

However we’re nonetheless centered on them anyway. So what do you do?