Many Facebook Pages will soon have less likes, as Facebook has announced it is removing memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts from Pages' like counts.
There are two primary benefits to removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized Facebook accounts from Pages' like counts according to the social network. First, removing inactive Facebook accounts from Page audience data provides businesses with better insights on their active audience, which makes it easier for businesses to find people similar to their followers through tools like lookalike audiences. In addition to providing businesses with a better view of their active audience, this update makes the social network more consistent. This is because Facebook already filters out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual Page posts.
As a result of this update, Facebook notes that Page admins should expect to see a small dip in their number of Page likes. That said, the decline represents likes from 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," said the social network in its announcement. "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."
