Today’s young adults live and thrive on an online social platform that is too popular for its age called “gram” in the local tongue and officially goes by the name “Instagram”. Instagram has not just been a platform for social interaction and entertainment, but has grown to be a viable business ground for vendors to meet their prospective buyers. While Instagram has evolved to accommodate its various ways of use, its features have also gained importance over time and also the way people choose to perceive it. Instagram likes in particular have emerged to create a stir amongst its users.

What are the likes up to?

Instagram likes are directly proportional to the popularity score of one’s post. Much like Newton’s law of motion, larger the force, larger is the acceleration. With the likes being a measure for profiles doing well, many tend to associate credibility with the amount of likes. Whilst it is true that profiles with many likes have earned a good deal of people visiting them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their end goal of marketing their product or service was successful. Many social media influencers rely on the likes on their posts for reach and monetary benefits from Instagram.

Downside of the Likes 

The likes, like mentioned earlier, aren’t turning out to be a healthy measure of efficacy. The pressure built up on influencers and creators to earn more likes for every post they put up is as high as ever. With the increasing pressure, creators resort to taking up projects that aren’t within their ethical limits. As a result of which the quality of their content goes down gradually, which in return directly affects their like count in one way or the other. Apart from being indicators of actual user engagement and activity, the likes have also been known to have negative effects such as body shaming, depression and anxiety amongst serious instagrammers.

Conclusion

Platforms like Instagram have a logical sequencing in place to support their features and in return which helps them to turn tidbits of entertainment to money. Although, the effects to a certain extent could not be foreseen when it was conceptualized or even when implemented. Slowly and gradually, the effects be it positive or negative spring up much later after a considerable time gap. As users all of us must be vigilant and understanding of the application and its effects and must choose to carry ourselves in better ways as much as possible