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Turns Out Instagram Might Have Been Withholding Your ‘Likes’ All This Time

16 January 2018, 10:48

It all makes so much sense now.

You know when you post a fire selfie and you’re waiting for those ‘likes’ to come rolling in and they just… don’t? Well, it turns out Instagram has been withholding them so you use the app more. Sneaky.

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The news was brought to light by Andy Coravos, CEO of ElectraLabs, on Twitter after she posted a snippet of an article where a Silicon Valley startup confirmed what we have long suspected – that your Instagram ‘likes’ don’t always show up right away.

She tweeted, “Wait. ‪@instagram strategically *withholds* ‘likes’ from users that they believe might disengage hoping they'll be disappointed and recheck the app?! Harvesting painful insecurities. This is so messed up.”

Wait. @instagram strategically *withholds* "likes" from users that they believe might disengage hoping they'll be disappointed and recheck the app?! Harvesting painful insecurities. This is so messed up. https://t.co/tXs9R1T1zK pic.twitter.com/Yba9qfovnf
— Andy Coravos (@AndreaCoravos) January 12, 2018

Matt Mayberry, who works for Dopamine Labs, explained, “It's common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving by strategically withholding ‘likes’ from certain users.

“If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it'll show only a fraction of the likes you've received on a given post at first, hoping you'll be disappointed with your haul and check back again in a minute or two. They're tying in to your greatest insecurities.”

this = strategically withhold likes. replication lag/etc may mean things aren't instantaneous but not intentionally so. and notifications we try and strike a balance of being timely + not over-sending notifs. UI shows our latest/best count once you're in the app
— Mike Krieger (@mikeyk) January 14, 2018

One of the head honchos of Instagram added, “To be clear, we don’t do this. This = strategically withhold likes. Replication lag/etc may mean things aren't instantaneous but not intentionally so. And notifications we try and strike a balance of being timely + not over-sending notifs. UI shows our latest/best count once you're in the app.”

Well, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on our ‘like’ count from now on.