Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has broken the world record for the most liked comment ever on Instagram. The Al-Nassr forward's response to Kylian Mbappé's post announcing his move to Real Madrid has amassed more than 5 million 'likes'. Ronaldo commented "My turn to (watch). Excited to see you light up the Bernabéu. #HalaMadrid".
Likes, algorithms and social media
Social media algorithms analyse the content you engage with and then use that data to recommend similar posts to you. Interactions such as likes, comments, shares and saves are all used to prioritise and determine what type of content should be served to you on your feeds.
We don't know all the details of social media algorithms, as platforms often keep them closely guarded secrets, but we do know that algorithms from all social media companies are different and they all work to make sure you see content that should be relevant to you. Find out more about how algorithms decide what we see on social media here.
How does Instagram rank content?
Last year the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, released information about how the platform ranks its content. He said that different features within the app, such as feeds, stories and reels use various algorithms, classifiers, and processes to rank the content that you see and personalise your experience based on 'signals', such as 'likes', comments and shares.
What are the most liked posts in Instagram history?
Having the most popular comment ever is another record for Cristiano Ronaldo, but it's his rival Lionel Messi who has the most liked Instagram post ever. More than 75 million people liked a carousel of photos of the Argentinian ace and his teammates lifting the World Cup in 2022.
The second most liked post might surprise you though, as it's not a photo of a footballer, musician, actor or even a cute animal – it's a picture of an egg. An image of the egg from 2019 attempted to beat the then world record holder, influencer Kylie Jenner, to the title of most liked post on Instagram, and has racked up more than 60 million likes.
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