With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms. On Facebook, users can post status updates, share photos and videos, react to posts with likes and comments, and more. One feature that some users want more control over is the ability to hide like counts on their posts.
Why Would You Want to Hide Like Counts?
There are a few reasons why someone may want to hide the number of likes on their Facebook posts:
- Reduce social pressure and comparison – Seeing high numbers of likes can make some users feel inadequate or compelled to post only content they think will be well-received.
- Focus on meaningful connections – Rather than popularity and vanity metrics, hiding likes refocuses attention on sharing experiences and having genuine interactions.
- Reduce targeted harassment – Public like counts can make some users targets for harassment, bullying, and coordinated attacks.
- Shift focus to content – Hiding likes puts emphasis on the actual content rather than its popularity.
How to Hide Like Counts for Your Posts
Unfortunately Facebook does not have a native, global setting to hide like counts on your posts across the platform. However, there are a few methods you can use to disable like counts on your own posts or posts you see in your News Feed.
Hide Likes on Your Own Posts
You can decide to hide like counts on a per-post basis for content you share. When creating a post, click on the audience selector (typically “Friends” by default). A menu will appear with various options including “Friends except acquaintances.” Click into this menu and select “Hide like and view counts.”
This will prevent the number of likes and views from being displayed publicly on that particular post. You can toggle this on or off for each post you create.
Hide Likes in Your News Feed
You can’t control whether others hide like counts on their posts, but you can choose to hide metrics in your own News Feed. This prevents like counts from being visible to you on the posts you see in your feed.
To do this on desktop:
- Click on the downward arrow in the top right of any post.
- Select “Hide like count” or “Hide like and view counts” depending on your preference.
- This will hide that data on all posts in your News Feed going forward.
On mobile:
- Tap the three dots above a post and choose “Hide like count” or “Hide like and view counts.”
- This option will be applied to all future posts.
Use Extensions or Apps
There are a few browser extensions and apps you can use to globally hide like counts across Facebook:
- Facebook DeMetricator – Browser extension that removes all metrics from Facebook posts.
- Who Liked My Post? – Chrome extension that hides public like and reaction counts.
- NoMore – Android app that hides like counts in your Facebook feed.
These provide a more comprehensive solution by hiding all like data from every post without having to adjust each one individually.
How to Hide Like Counts for a Facebook Page
If you manage a Facebook Page, there unfortunately isn’t a built-in way to disable like or reaction counts on your Page’s posts. However, Page admins do have one option to help shift focus away from likes.
You can change the default sorting on your Page from “Top Comments” to “Newest First.” This means comments on your Page’s posts will be ordered based on recency rather than by how many Likes or reactions they have.
To change the default comment sorting:
- Go to your Page and click “Settings.”
- Select “Default comment sorting.”
- Choose “Newest first” and save changes.
This won’t remove metrics, but it’s a start to prioritizing meaningful comments over most popular. There are also some browser extensions like Facebook DeMetricator that can hide comment counts on Page posts if desired.
Other Ways to Disable Likes
In addition to the options above, there are a couple other techniques people use to hide like counts, including:
- Preview mode – Viewing posts in preview mode doesn’t show metrics, so some users browse Facebook this way.
- Facebook Lite app – The pared down Lite app doesn’t display like counts.
- Manual inspect element – Tech savvy users can manually hide elements with developer tools.
However, these require using Facebook in ways other than its normal interface. They also don’t remove metrics universally and require extra steps for each post.
Why Facebook Doesn’t Have a Native Dislike Count Option
Many users logically ask why Facebook doesn’t have a main option to universally hide public like counts. Perhaps the closest they came was a small test in 2019 that hid likes for a portion of Canadian users.
Facebook has provided some insight into why they are hesitant to allow users to turn off like counts completely:
- Likes, reactions, and other metrics are “integrity signals” that help identify inauthentic or low-quality content.
- Metrics provide valuable feedback to help content creators understand what resonates with their audience.
- Facebook is apprehensive about steps that could undermine the core user experience.
Essentially, Facebook sees likes as an important data point for gauging post quality and performance. They are hesitant to allow users to opt out of metrics that provide useful insight to themselves, other users, and Facebook’s own algorithms.
Other Social Media Sites With Hidden Likes
While Facebook itself has been reluctant thus far, other social networks have introduced options to hide public likes:
- Instagram – Users can hide likes on their own posts. Creators can also disable like counts on their channels.
- Twitter – Users can hide likes on their own tweets through privacy settings.
- YouTube – Video creators can opt to hide public like and dislike counts.
- TikTok – There is an option to keep likes private so they are not publicly displayed.
The availability of these options indicates a shift across social media toward empowering users and focusing on content quality over engagement metrics.
Should Facebook Add Hidden Likes?
Whether Facebook itself will ever provide a native option for hiding like counts remains to be seen. Some of the pros and cons around this decision include:
Pros
- Give users more control over their experience.
- Reduce competitive pressure and social comparison.
- Make the platform feel more intimate and community focused.
- Encourage high-quality sharing for genuine reasons.
Cons
- Undermine core Facebook user experience that includes visible engagement.
- Remove an indicator Facebook uses to identify bad actors and misinformation.
- Harm creators and businesses who rely on metrics to analyze performance.
- Potentially enable more objectionable content if less visible.
As the debate continues, some feel Facebook has a responsibility to respond to users calling for more discretion around likes. But there are also arguments for keeping metrics public to maintain transparency and accountability.
Conclusion
While Facebook does not yet have a native feature to hide like counts, various workarounds exist such as preview mode, extensions, and third-party apps. Users can also hide public metrics on their own posts and in their feeds on a post-by-post basis.
Some social networks like Instagram and Twitter provide options for users to hide likes, indicating a shift in priority from vanity metrics to quality connections. But Facebook still sees public engagement data as an important indicator of content and account integrity.
As Facebook weighs future platform changes, they are left to balance the pros and cons of hiding likes and determine if this aligns with their vision for the user experience. But for now, those desiring more discretion around Facebook likes do have some options even without an official global setting.
Whether through small personal choices like disabling likes on your own content, or larger platform-level decisions by Facebook down the road, the trend toward focusing less on superficial metrics and more on quality connections seems to be growing. While likes won’t disappear overnight, users are gaining more control over curating their social media environment.
This demonstrates social networks like Facebook evolving as society’s views change on topics like competition, privacy, and vulnerability. Only time will tell whether Facebook eventually adds native options for hiding engagement metrics. But in the interim, users wanting a less metrics-focused experience do have some workarounds to choose from.
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