A New Site Surfaces Every Instagram Photo with Zero Likes

Frankly, Nolikesyet.com sounds mean.

It’s a site that lets you “discover all the photos on Instagram with no likes yet.” Really? Do we need a service that singles out unliked imagery? To what end?

Well, here’s the apparent spin: The site gently prods you to do some liking.

See also: This Site Lets You Listen to the 4 Million Spotify Songs That Have Never Been Played

Scroll through a wide array of pictures from strangers that have yet to be liked, and as you mouse over each image you see an exhortation to offer some positive reinforcement as you see fit.

You can also narrow the images down to view those of your own Instagram contacts and perhaps earn karma points with an actual friend. (I’m not going to show you an example of that, as I severely doubt my actual friends would appreciate their pictures showing up in this context.)

Or, if you’ve been looking for a way to lower your self esteem in the manner that only the social-media era provides, revisit your own unliked Instagrams. Nope, you can’t like them. Instead, you can wallow in whatever unpleasant emotions are stirred up by noting that not a single one of your friends could be bothered to appreciate that adorable shot of your darling pet.

Or you can click a link that will evidently tweet out your ignored image with a pathetic plea: “Show some love to my Instagram photos that have never been liked.”

Of course, if you do that and nobody steps up, you will simply be more depressed than you were already.

So here’s my suggestion: Should you choose to explore No Likes Yet, do so in the spirit of spreading appreciation — not begging for it. It’s the latter practice that sometimes makes the Culture of Like such a bummer in the first place.

Write to me at rwalkeryn@yahoo.com or find me on Twitter, @notrobwalker. RSS lover? Paste this URL into your reader of choice: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/author/rob-walker/rss.