Facebook Page Likes will drop on March 12th?

We’ve been getting plenty of questions about an announcement from Facebook regarding how they count a Page’s Facebook Likes, and the warning directed at Page admins that they may experience a drop in Likes.

So, to clear things up…

Facebook have announced that they will be “removing inactive Facebook accounts” from a Page’s Like count, something which has Facebook Page admins on edge.

The confusion arises because that can be interpreted in two different ways.

The first interpretation is that Facebook are removing Likes from accounts that are inactive with a particular Page. I.e. This account has not interacted with your page for some time, therefore we deem it inactive [towards you] and will remove it from your Page Like count.

The second interpretation is that Facebook are removing Likes from actual inactive account, i.e. Likes from Facebook accounts that are no longer actual Facebook accounts – i.e. the accounts are not used at all.

The second interpretation is correct. Inactive – in this case – means either memorialised (the account owner has passed away) or users who have deactivated their account (the account has been removed)

A blog post from Facebook confirms the move –

Over the coming weeks, Page admins should expect to see a small dip in their number of Page likes as a result of this update. It’s important to remember, though, that these removed likes represent people who were already inactive on Facebook.

Going forward, any accounts that are voluntarily deactivated or memorialized will be removed from a Page’s like count. If a deactivated account is reactivated, the account will be re-added to a Page’s like count.

Many Facebook Page admins have confused the announcement, believing the first interpretation to be the correct one and that they need to ensure their followers are active with their Page or face being removed, which has led to many rumours imploring users to interact with the Pages that they follow and want to stay up-to-date with.

It is true that a user who stays active with a Page will increase the likelihood that that Pages posts will appear in that user’s newsfeed, but it is not true that Facebook will remove the Like if a user does not interact with a Page.

Hope that clears it all up.

Are you a Page admin? What do you think of the move? Do you think Facebook should remove Likes from accounts that are no longer used or do you think they should stay? Let us know below.