{"id":543976,"date":"2021-05-28T10:21:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T14:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=543976"},"modified":"2021-05-28T10:21:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T14:21:44","slug":"facebooks-new-likes-policy-changes-social-media-forever-and-thats-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebooks-new-likes-policy-changes-social-media-forever-and-thats-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook\u2019s New \u201cLikes\u201d Policy Changes Social Media Forever \u2014 And That\u2019s A Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffacebooks-new-likes-policy-changes-social-media-forever-and-thats-a-good-thing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=543976&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-144147600-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Earlier this week, Facebook announced that users of its two platforms, Facebook and Instagram, will have the option to hide their \u201clike\u201d counts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2021\/05\/giving-people-more-control\/\">blog post<\/a> titled, \u201cGiving People More Control on Instagram and Facebook,\u201d the social media giant wrote, \u201ceveryone on Instagram and Facebook will now have the option to hide their public like counts, so they can decide what works for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cStarting today, we\u2019re giving you the option to hide like counts on all posts in your feed,\u201d Facebook wrote. \u201cYou\u2019ll also have the option to hide like counts on your own posts, so others can\u2019t see how many likes your posts get. This way, if you like, you can focus on the photos and videos being shared, instead of how many likes posts get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Facebook\u2019s policies regarding numerous areas impacting American society \u2014 most notably, politics \u2014 <\/span><span>have been vastly inaccurate and arguably damaging, the introduction of the ability to hide \u201clike counts\u201d is a fantastic concept, particularly for those who suffer from various mental health problems which often come hand-in-hand with social media platforms \u2014 particularly Instagram.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While much of the early criticism of such a policy was related to professional \u201cinfluencers\u201d whose business model requires a public-facing gauge of post popularity \u2014 in other words, monetizing the question, \u201chow many people liked this picture?\u201d \u2014 the \u201clike\u201d feature of almost every social media platform can be an emotional minefield for the average user, and more notably, for younger users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A \u201clike count\u201d is a deliberately public popularity contest, repeated time after time with each new post. By design, users find themselves seeking the short-lived endorphin rush of receiving one \u201clike,\u201d ten \u201clikes,\u201d <em>even<\/em> one hundred \u201clikes.\u201d It becomes hard to escape the proceeding belief that self-worth is somehow tied to a pseudo-democratic review determined by how many people press that \u201cthumbs up\u201d button.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This link between mental health and social media usage is certainly a valid concern supported by \u201cthe science.\u201d In 2019, <\/span><span>the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/social-issues\/mental-health-problems-rise-significantly-among-young-americans\/2019\/03\/14\/5d4fffe8-460c-11e9-90f0-0ccfeec87a61_story.html?utm_term=.8940aacd535d\"><span>American Psychological Association<\/span><\/a><span> reported that rates of various forms of mental illness were on the rise among young people, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/instagram-hiding-likes-mental-health_l_5cd092d3e4b0548b735e50bc\"><span>linking<\/span><\/a><span> \u201cthe rise to increased time spent on social media.\u201d The Royal Society for Public Health also suggested that \u201csocial media may be fueling a mental health crisis\u201d for younger users in, as HuffPost put it, \u201can unwinnable game of compare and contrast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In fairness to Facebook, they are facing an almost impossible task. The rise of the Internet, and social media more specifically, has triggered an unprecedented number of new societal problems and questions, for which time is a necessary factor in achieving any answers. This effectively makes every one of us a guinea pig in a societal experiment.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>By acknowledging that the \u201clike count\u201d can have a negative impact, and offering the ability to shelter more vulnerable users from such impact while ensuring that the feature remains for those who wish to use it, they\u2019re proving that they\u2019re engaging in good faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a world where Big Tech is routinely demonized, it\u2019s important to call out the times when they take a step in a positive direction. This is one of those days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i>@ighaworth<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/i>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this week, Facebook announced that users of its two platforms, Facebook and Instagram, will have the option to hide their \u201clike\u201d counts.In a blog post titled, \u201cGiving People More &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313375,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-144147600-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Facebook\u2019s New \u201cLikes\u201d Policy Changes Social Media Forever \u2014 And That\u2019s A Good Thing","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-144147600-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Facebook\u2019s New \u201cLikes\u201d Policy Changes Social Media Forever \u2014 And That\u2019s A Good Thing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}