Instagram's "Private Likes" Experiment Is Getting Mixed Reactions From Canadians

By now, you've probably noticed your Instagram feed looks a little different. That's because Instagram removed the number of likes displayed in Canada recently, as part of a beta test for the platform. 

For the past couple of days, Instagram users across the country have noticed that instead of seeing the number of likes someone's photo got, you can now only see the users who have liked it. 

In a recent interview with Narcity, Instagram explained the reason behind this decision. A spokesperson for the company said, "We hope that by making the number of likes private, people will be able to focus more on the photos and videos posted and that this will ultimately drive deeper, more meaningful engagement." 

As for why they chose Canada for their experiment, Instagram said: "Canada has been selected as a test market because, Canadians are highly social and tech savvy, with over 24 million people connecting across the Facebook family of apps each month."

As with any beta-test, the company is hoping to gauge the reactions of their users and to see who well the feature works out for people. If they find it was successful, you can expect Instagram to remove the number of likes display around the world. 

However, I wouldn't get too excited about this feature becoming permanent yet. So far the test has been getting very mixed reactions from Canadians, especially on Twitter. 

Some people absolutely hate not being able to see how many likes photos have. 

Meanwhile, other Canadians are absolutely loving it. 

Other Canadians are questioning Instagram's priorities, pointing out some other features that they'd rather have instead of not displaying likes, such as Instagram Music or chronological feeds. 

Based on these seriously mixed reactions to the new Instagram update in Canada, it's pretty much impossible to tell right now how this feature is doing or if it's going to be made permanent. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.