Video Play Counts Coming Soon to Instagram

It will soon be easier than ever to quantify your vanity on Instagram.

The popular photo- and video-sharing app will soon make video views a publicly displayed statistic on its users’ videos. There is no timing yet announced on when this feature will kick into effect, but the company offered a preview today.

In addition to appearing below the video itself, the play count will appear at the top of the list of people who have liked your video. Instagram’s thinking is that a view count is a more reasonable measurement of a video’s performance than its number of “likes,” which can be entirely arbitrary.

In addition to appearing below the video itself, the play count will appear at the top of the list of people who have liked your video. It’s valuable information to have to get a sense of how far and wide one’s content is spreading. Besides, it goes a long way toward telling you just how much better you should feel about your video that got 500 plays versus a friend’s video that got 50 plays.

Exactly ten times better, you vain little monster.