Publishers to see ‘Like’ counts drop as Facebook purges inactive accounts

6 Mar 2015

Facebook Page administrators are to be hit where it hurts after the social network announced Page ‘Likes’ will suffer a dip in the coming weeks.

That’s because Facebook is now purging likes from inactive accounts, such as memorialised users and deactivated pages. The company believes the move will make audience data “more meaningful for businesses”.

“This change ensures that data on Facebook is consistent and up-to-date,” it wrote in a blog post.

“Everyone benefits from meaningful information on Facebook. It’s our hope that this update makes pages even more valuable for businesses.”

Following the purge, accounts that are voluntarily deactivated or memorialised will be instantly removed from a page’s ‘Like’ count. But if a deactivated account is reactivated, the user will be automatically re-added.

Dean Van Nguyen was a contributor to Silicon Republic

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