In an announcement, Facebook announced that they would be removing all inactive Facebook Page “LIKERS” from the total Page LIKE count on March 5, 2015. These “inactive” users are memorialized and deactivated accounts. They will NOT remove inactive users who are NOT memorialized and who have not deactivated their accounts. 

Here is what they officially wrote on the page: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/page-likes-update

Published on March 5, 2015

Making Page Likes More Meaningful

Businesses use Page audience data to understand what their followers care about. To make audience data even more meaningful for businesses, we’re updating the way Page likes are counted by removing memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts from Pages’ like counts. This change ensures that data on Facebook is consistent and up-to-date.

Removing inactive Facebook accounts

There are two primary benefits to removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized Facebook accounts from Pages’ like counts:
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.

What to expect

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.

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

So what does “inactive” mean actually?

Facebook will be removing memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts from Pages’ like counts. Facebook says… “Memorialized accounts are a way for people on Facebook to remember and celebrate those who’ve passed away.” Voluntarily deactivated accounts are accounts that people have deactivated. Apparently these where not removed from the number of “LIKES”. Now they will.

So what does this mean to business?

  • Probably a little dip in the Page LIKE numbers. It depends on how many people have died and deactivated their accounts. We will have to watch what happens with Facebook. The only thing we know is that Facebook is continually changing the way they do things. We have to watch what Facebook actually does.
  • Don’t panic. Here’s some tips below to help you do better.

 

So what should businesses be thinking about for the future, and the next possible Facebook Update?

  • If you have relied on contests to add LIKERS and have not added these LIKERS to your community, so that they become active participants in your community, The Facebook algorithm will not show you in their News Feed.
  • If you have bought Page LIKES, and these people have not become active participants in your community, The Facebook algorithm will not show you in their News Feed.
  • If you are not building a community around your Facebook Page that is active and engaging, The Facebook algorithm will not show you in their News Feed.

So what can a business do that will be effective on a Facebook Page? Here’s some thoughts:

  • Train people how to become active participants on your Facebook Page.
  • Regularly engage with Page LIKERS who have LIKED, comments or shared with your Page.
  • Build with people not numbers.
  • Get some training that actually teaches you how to do the above.

You have to learn how to work with Facebook to achieve a good return on your investment. Learn how to do this and you can create great things on Facebook.