Facebook Stops Tracking Daily Likes and Comments

The latest example of a Facebook Insights change could be problem for big brands and agencies.

Facebook is no longer providing data on daily comments and likes in Insights. The company appears to have stopped showing the number of daily comments and likes made per page and per post sometime this month.

When brands and their agencies view Insights data online or export the data for viewing elsewhere, the information once provided to them showing the number of likes and comments per day on brand pages or specific posts is no longer available.

“Facebook is doing it to push people to look at ‘People Talking About This,’ ” said Jeff Widman, co-founder of Facebook analytics company PageLever.

“I was absolutely shocked,” he said.

It’s yet another example of a Facebook metrics change that could be problematic for brand marketers and the people who run and track their pages. For agencies providing regular reports on pages to their clients, the lack of daily comments and likes data represents another gap in the information they once were able to track. The reports Widman has seen in the past from clients using PageLever’s analytics system have “pretty much always” included daily likes and comments data, he said.

One concern: The people talking metric lumps together the number of people who have liked, commented or shared a brand’s post or page, or engaged in some other way. But some advertisers place different values on various forms of interactions – for instance, attributing a higher value to a comment than a like.

“Personally I think that more advertisers will want to know how many [daily] comments and likes they got because comments have different value than likes,” said Widman.

Without Facebook-reported daily likes and comments, marketers and agencies will need to track them manually. For those tracking larger pages with multiple posts, that could get tedious. Companies like PageLever could benefit from the change.

Noted Widman, “I expect that we will see a fair number of companies come in and say can you help us with this?”

Facebook did not respond to an interview request regarding the change.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource