This Chrome Extension Brings Instagram Posts’ Likes Back

Instagram is blocking likes on accounts throughout the world to prevent users from feeling bad by comparing their likes to others.

This move wasn’t entirely well-received by marketers and influencers due to their reliance on measuring the success of posts by the number of likes and comments it received.

To get around the hidden likes blockade, Socialinsider Co-founder Andrei Serbanoiu created a Google Chrome plug-in that reveals the likes on an Instagram post hiding the like count.

“People doing social media content research are interested in seeing the number of likes or comments posts usually get,” Serbanoiu told me. “This helps them understand what audiences prefer and offers a big input on how to adjust their content strategy accordingly. Also, brands need to be aware of what the competition is doing, to make sure they don’t fall behind.”

The extension only works on desktops as the plug-in can’t work on Instagram’s mobile platform and mobile browsers are limited with extensions.

“The app was primarily intended for social media professionals, as a quick way to keep track of social media partnership results,” Serbanoiu told me. “This means that they will be inclined to check progress at work, primarily on their desktops or laptops. So a chrome extension might actually serve them more than a mobile option.”

Due to technical limitations, there is no intention in developing a mobile version of tracking likes on posts, according to Serbanoiu.

“Knowing that nobody can see the likes a post gets might remove some of the anxiety of posting regular content,” Serbanoiu told me. “But while the thought process behind hiding likes is understandable, this decision leaves brands in a tough spot, with no access to partnership results. So this chrome extension can be a simple solution.

“I hope people find it useful when doing content research or influencer analysis,” Serbanoiu told me.