In recent news, Facebook has confirmed that it is planning to remove “Like” counts from the posts on the platform. Facebook is following the experiment that was initially done on Instagram. The test was spotted by an App researcher named Jane Manchun Wong.

Wong said that with the unreleased feature, the like and reaction count will be hidden other than the creator of the post similar to Instagram. The list of people might be shown but the count will be hidden.

A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the news.

How it could affect Facebook marketers?

The goal is a bit unclear at this early stage, but the social platforms that are doing this experiment want to focus more on the benefits or the lack of it that linked to vanity metrics.

The reports of Instagram experimenting with the “Like” counts started somewhere around April, which was confirmed after testing in seven different countries. Reports are also coming from sources that YouTube is also trying to phase out the exact counts for people viewing the videos. The analytics will still be available for the creators. They are going to start it for the channels with more than 1,000 subscribers.

Although many marketers say that this move won’t have any measurable impact on branded posts on Facebook, it could affect the relationship between the brand and the influencer. Brands usually identify and evaluate influencers based on metrics and choose for long-term partnerships.

The influencers who are into advertising off-books will have to be more creative now and craft valuable content to get the attention of a brand. They can no longer rely on “Likes” as the only metrics to catch a brand’s attention. The brands will have to be more invested in evaluating the influencers or advertisers that they want to partner. They won’t be able to tell how popular a post is based on the “Likes” anymore.