Instagram explain why you liked a post

Instagram has evolved in a fascinating the way in the past few years. It’s still a place where people have a dedicated “home” for static content, but the days of sharing photos are long gone for many. Every one in a while I stumble upon someone who regularly posts photos like it’s still 2014 and I feel like I’m transported back to a simpler time. Oh to note have to constantly churn out short form video content.

Anyways, I digress. Part of what’s interesting about Instagram is the broad based meaning of “liking” a post. This got me thinking, what if you had to specify “why” you liked something? It’s interesting because this has no utility for the end user but could be meaningful data for Meta.

There’s no reason to build this. It adds extra friction and provides no benefit to the user. Somehow TikTok’s algorithm is far better at serving users what they “want” to see (even if it’s not good for them) and while this might help that, no user is going to engage with something like this.

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