With social media being such a big part of our lives these days, many people wonder how they can hide the number of likes on their posts. There are a few different reasons why someone may want to hide their likes – maybe you don’t want certain posts to seem more popular than others, or maybe you don’t want people to focus so much on the like count. Thankfully, on many major social platforms like Instagram and Facebook, there are settings that allow you to hide your likes!
Why Would You Want to Hide Likes?
Here are some of the top reasons why someone may want to hide likes on their social media posts:
- To reduce social pressure and comparisons. Seeing a high like count can make some users feel inadequate or like they need to post only content that will be well-liked.
- To encourage more authentic engagement. When likes are hidden, followers may be more likely to comment and interact in a meaningful way rather than just double-tapping.
- To focus on the content itself. Hiding likes puts emphasis on the actual post rather than the popularity metrics.
- To level the playing field. Pages or profiles with a lot of followers can accumulate likes more easily, which may discourage smaller accounts.
- To improve mental health and self-esteem. Feeling judged by like counts can negatively impact some users’ wellbeing.
The bottom line is that for some social media users, hiding likes can create a healthier experience and community. It allows them to focus on connecting with others in a more personal way.
How to Hide Likes on Instagram
Luckily, Instagram has made it very easy for users to hide likes on their posts. There are just a couple quick settings to adjust.
Here is how to hide like counts on Instagram:
- Go to your profile and tap on the three horizontal lines in the top right corner to access the menu.
- Scroll down and tap on “Settings”.
- Under the “Privacy” section, tap on “Posts”.
- Toggle the switch next to “Hide Like and View Counts” to the on position.
That’s it! Now new posts that you share will not show the number of likes publicly. You can still see the like count by tapping on your own posts, but others viewing your profile will not be able to see how many likes your posts receive.
This setting can be reversed at any time by simply toggling the “Hide Like and View Counts” switch to the off position. You have full control to hide or unhide likes as desired.
What Still Shows When Likes Are Hidden
Even with like counts hidden, your followers will still see some post activity:
- Comments and reply threads
- Number of comments
- Dates posted
- Content of posts
So likes are simply hidden from the public view – meaningful interactions through comments can still take place. People can still see that your posts get engagement, just not specific like totals.
Hiding Likes on Facebook
Facebook also gives you the ability to hide your like counts, though the process is a bit different than on Instagram.
Here is how to hide likes on Facebook:
- Go to the post you want to hide likes for and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select “Hide Like Count” from the dropdown menu.
- Confirm that you want to hide the total reactions.
This has to be done on a per post basis, so if you want all your posts to have hidden like counts, you have to hide the counts for each one. New posts will show like counts by default unless you hide them.
Other Ways to Hide Likes on Facebook
In addition to the per post option, there are a couple other ways you can hide Facebook like counts:
- Turn off Likes platform-wide – In Facebook Settings under “Settings & Privacy”, you can choose to disable likes and reactions so they don’t show on your posts or anyone else’s posts that you see.
- Use the Feed Preference option – You can indicate you want to see posts in feed chronologically rather than ranked by algorithms. This results in likes being hidden.
So Facebook provides a few different options depending on exactly how you want to adjust the visibility of like counts. The per post method gives you the most granular control.
Hiding Likes on Twitter
Twitter does not have a native setting that allows users to hide their like counts. The only way to hide Twitter likes is through a third-party service.
Some services that can help hide your likes on Twitter include:
- Social Insider – Provides an option to hide likes and retweets. Has free and paid subscription plans.
- Sprout Social – Social media management platform that lets you disable like and retweet counts. Paid subscription required.
- Sendible – Another social media manager that can hide Twitter engagement counts for paying subscribers.
So unfortunately Twitter does not have a simple on/off toggle for likes built into its platform settings. You need to use a third party program to access like hiding capabilities.
Should You Hide Likes?
Now that you know how to hide likes on some major platforms, should you actually do it? Here are some pros and cons to weighing when deciding:
Pros
- May improve your mental health and self-esteem by reducing comparisons.
- Encourages more meaningful interactions focused on content.
- Levels the playing field so all accounts can thrive.
- Puts emphasis on posting authentic content you believe in.
Cons
- May reduce motivation to post if you enjoy watching your like count grow.
- Makes it harder to tell which posts resonate most with your audience.
- Could slow down your account growth if viral posts drive a lot of new followers.
- Requires giving up control to algorithms rather than choosing content based on engagement.
There are good arguments on both sides. You may want to experiment with hiding your likes for a while to see if you notice any positive or negative effects personally. In the end it’s a personal choice!
Conclusion
Hiding social media likes is simple to do on Instagram and Facebook, just requiring a quick settings toggle. On Twitter it takes a bit more work by using a third-party service. Ultimately whether to hide likes or not depends on your goals and priorities. But at least now you know exactly how to hide like counts if you ever want to reduce the focus on vanity metrics and keep that information private!