Topics · Signal
Social proof
On Instagram, social proof is visible information about other people’s support that can influence someone’s choices, such as seeing people in their community use vaccine-support stickers1. Meta reported that more than 7.6 million people globally had used these stickers and more than 29% of Instagram users globally had seen someone use one1. Engagement figures can also be less visible: in March 2021, Adam Mosseri apologized after Instagram accidentally made like counts private for many people2. Meta’s search patents describe ranking results using connected people’s clicks, marking results that friends clicked, and displaying profile information from connected people who recently accessed a result, rather than establishing how Instagram currently works345. Meta’s Newsroom described efforts to make vaccine support visible in August 2021, but this historical report does not provide current guidance for creators about visibility controls or reach1.
Visibility of support and engagement
The scale of visible support on Instagram was reflected in Meta’s Newsroom’s report that more than 7.6 million people globally had used vaccine-support stickers1. More than 29% of people globally on Instagram had seen someone use one1. Engagement figures could also become less visible: in March 2021, Adam Mosseri reported that Instagram had accidentally made like counts private for many people2. He apologized for the unintended rollout2.
See also
References
- 1Community Standards Enforcement Report, Second Quarter 2021
- 2This week we unintentionally launched private like counts to a lot of people.
- 3Client-side modification of search results based on social network data
- 4Ranking search results based on the frequency of access on the search results by users of a social-networking system
- 5Ranking search results using social-networking information