Privacy is one great focus among social media today. Facebook removed likes on pages. YouTube made dislike counts private. Instagram has long been testing to hide like counts. Today, Instagram rolls out private story likes.
Originally, likes on Instagram Stories showed as a heart symbol sent as either a comment or DM to the author of the story. Today, a heart icon will appear between the comment and DM option of the story. Tapping on the heart icon will send the author of the story, a like that will show on the author’s viewer sheet.
❤️ Private Story Likes ❤️
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 14, 2022
Starting to roll out today, you can now send some love by liking people’s stories without sending a DM.
Likes on stories are private and do not have counts. Rather, they appear as hearts next to people’s handles in your Stories view sheet. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/l56Rmzgnnw
Instagram rolls out private story likes on 14 February 2022.
Implications for Marketers:
As Instagram rolls out private story likes, it aims to focus DMs on private conversations. For marketers, it can give them better engagement insights on brand stories they have published.
Reference: https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1493299070823141379