As Page Administrators you may begin to see this message, “We’ve recently updated the way we measure how many people like your Page…” Facebook is on a mission to remove inactive or fake accounts that have liked your Page.

losing-facebook-likesWhat IS accurate and you can take from this is that you may see a small drop in your total Page Likes that  started on Thursday  because Facebook is removing two types of accounts from your fan count: memorialized accounts and voluntarily deactivated accounts. This is actually good news – as Facebook states in the official announcement, “Making Page Likes More Meaningful.”

Facebook explained the reasons behind the move:

Business results: Removing inactive Facebook accounts from page audience data gives businesses up-to-date insights on the people who actively follow their page and makes it easier for businesses to find people like their followers through tools like lookalike audiences.

Consistency: We already filter out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual page posts, so this update keeps data consistent. When you hear or see people talking about the word “inactive” don’t confuse that with not “engaged.” Facebook is not “deleting inactive “likers” on your page!” That erroneous interpretation is a ploy by some Page owners to get fans to engage more with their page.

As we’ve seen with the horrific decline in “post reach” we know it’s true that your fans will see more of your posts the more they engage with your content. However, it’s not true that Facebook is removing fans if they don’t engage with posts! That’s not what this particular decline in “likes” is about. The “likes” that were lost weren’t  seeing  your posts anyway. But let’s face it without buying ads that’s about 85% of your “likes” today anyway.

You can read Facebook’s official announcement here:  https://www.facebook.com/business/news/page-likes-update

About the Author:

Mike Frey

Before co-founding Paradux Media Group, Mike spent more than 15 years in the world of marketing and advertising. While working with hundreds of locally owned businesses, he developed an appreciation for minimizing clients’ dollars while maximizing tangible results for those clients.

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