Meta Platforms Inc. META seems to be working on showing Instagram Reels share counts to all users and not just business or creator accounts.
What Happened: Some Instagram users have started spotting the platform showing share numbers on the screen alongside Likes and Comments numbers. Social media commentator Matt Navarra, too, said the feature can be seen. He said, "Having a share count gives users and brands another metric to gauge the popularity of a Reel or a Reel creators' content. Shares are a better indicator of interest in a video than just Likes."
Navarra even shared a screenshot with Benzinga.
The information was independently verified by Benzinga that discovered some users of both Apple Inc.’s AAPL iOS and smartphones running on Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL operating system, Android, were able to view the share count.
Here are some screenshots of the feature being available on Android phones:
Meta did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.
As of now, business and creator account holders can see how many people liked, commented, saved and shared their posts via Instagram Insights. They can use the same to learn more about the overall trends across their followers and track performance.
Why It’s Important: Fake Instagram followers have long been an issue.
This is because there are services out there that sell fake subscribers to anyone who pays them.
However, these purchased followers are likely bots or inactive accounts, who typically don’t engage with posts, making it increasingly difficult for users to use them to manipulate how many shares and likes they’ve got.
If Instagram introduces this feature for all users, this may help Instagrammers differentiate between accounts with real and fake followers.
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