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Likes
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Likes are positive reactions to Instagram content that express appreciation and can help content reach interested viewers.123 People can hide like totals on their own posts and on posts they see, without removing the ability to like a post.45 For creators, Mosseri advised in August 2025 experimenting with content and studying audience response, because what works for an audience can change from month to month.6
Expressing and displaying appreciation
Instagram likes can communicate personal interest: Instagram’s December 2023 Trend Talk announcement listed liking someone’s Story among surveyed Gen Z users’ ways of flirting.1 Its February 2022 “Love at First Slide” announcement illustrated this with a couple who exchanged photo likes before starting a conversation through direct messages, an individual relationship story rather than a general rule about what likes mean.2 The appearance of that reaction can also vary: Meta’s Newsroom announced like-button customization for Rings winners in October 2025, and Mosseri confirmed in January 2026 that the 25 winners could enable individually designed like hearts on their posts throughout 2026.78
How likes shape recommendations
Instagram has described past likes as helping Explore adapt to someone’s interests and, in its August 2018 Feed recommendation test, helping select suggested photos and videos.910 Instagram for Creators lists likes alongside viewing time, continued watching, shares and comments as information used to predict which Reels someone might enjoy.3 Mosseri explained in January 2025 that predicted viewing time matters most for both connected and unconnected content, with likes slightly more important than sends for the former and sends slightly more important for the latter.11 Meta’s Transparency Center lists post and comment like totals, how often someone likes comments, and the number of posts and comments someone has liked among the information used by its Instagram Comments AI system.12 Meta’s SilverTorch research explores predicting likes, shares and comments together, while a Meta news-feed patent describes estimating interest from likes alongside more detailed video interactions; these describe research and a patented method, not confirmation of Instagram’s current implementation.1314
Measuring response with likes
Likes also give Instagram creators a way to assess audience response: in April 2024, Mosseri emphasized likes per post, views per Reel and reshares as better indicators of performance than follower totals alone.15 In February 2025, he recommended like rate—total likes divided by the number of people reached—alongside average Reel watch time and sends divided by people reached.16 In August 2025, Mosseri described a new Insights view showing where within a Reel people give likes, which can help creators identify the parts viewers enjoy most.6
How it has changed
- 2016
February
Instagram announced that view counts would replace displayed like totals beneath videos, with likes accessible by tapping “views.”17
- 2019
April
Mosseri announced that Instagram was testing private like counts.18
- 2021
March
Mosseri acknowledged an accidental rollout of private like counts and said Instagram was exploring how to offer them to people who wanted them without imposing them on others.19
- 2022
September
Mosseri said Instagram was testing private like-count controls for Reels, with hopes of launching them soon.21
- 2025
October
Mosseri recommended hiding like totals as a way to reduce anxiety about post performance.5
What you can do
- To hide like totals on posts in your feed, use the Posts section in Settings described in Meta’s Newsroom’s May 2021 instructions.4
- Choose the hide-like-count option before sharing your own post, or turn the setting on or off after publication.4
- To find content you previously liked, open your profile, tap the top-right menu, choose Your Activity and open Likes.22
See also
References
- 12024 Instagram Trend Talk: From fashion and friendship to eras and icks, here’s all the trends Gen Z will be driving on Instagram in 2024
- 2Instagram Releases ‘Love at First Slide’ Series Highlighting Black Love that Bloomed on Instagram
- 3Helping creators of all sizes break through
- 4Giving People More Control on Instagram and Facebook
- 5Turning off like counts, disabling comments, or using Close Friends are a few good things to try if you’re ever feeling anxious about how your posts are doing on Instagram.
- 6AMA: how long should my reels be??
- 7Creator Dolly Singh Shines As India’s Instagram 2025 Rings Award Winner!
- 8We worked with each of our 25 Rings winners to create unique “Like” hearts that reflect their individual style and celebrate their creativity.
- 9Introducing Video Channels in Instagram Explore
- 10Testing Recommended Posts in the Instagram Feed
- 11I’m going to break down how ranking works on Instagram in a series of videos in a way that hopefully helps creators best leverage the platform.
- 12Instagram Comments AI system
- 13SilverTorch: A Unified Model-based System to Democratize Large-Scale Recommendation on GPUs
- 14Ranking of news feeds of content including consideration of specific content clicks by users
- 15Quick thought: Engagement rates are more important than follower counts.
- 16If you’re trying to optimize for reach, the metrics you should pay the most attention to are average watch time (for reels), like rate (likes per people reached) and send rate (sends per people reached).
- 17Introducing Video View Counts
- 18Lots of exciting @instagram news today, launching donation stickers and shopping from creators, testing private like counts, a new camera design and a variety of ways to fight online bullying.
- 19This week we unintentionally launched private like counts to a lot of people.
- 20Adam Mosseri, Instagram post
- 21Hidden Gems - Private Like Counts
- 22If you’ve ever liked something on Instagram and wanted to go back to it, there’s a feature called Your Activity that’s great for this.