It’s now been several years since Facebook removed likes from Public Pages.
Beforehand, you used to be able to see the amount of likes that a page had received. However, now you can only see the amount of users that are following the account on the platform.
When did Facebook drop Facebook Likes from Public Pages?
Facebook announced in January 2021 its plans for a major redesign, which included this removal of likes from their Facebook pages.
There was some pushback before Facebook decided to withdraw like buttons from its official website, and only show the amount of followers the page has.
A Facebook page is a way for artists, business people, public figures and brands to communicate with their audiences. This is an obvious change for Page users, as Likes was usually the first thing that users saw when landing on a Facebook page.
However, much like all other small tweaks that social media platforms make, eventually users adapted to the new Facebook pages.
How did dropping the like button from public pages affect the page owner?
In the past, when you liked a page then you’d automatically follow that page by default. This is the main reason why likes have been dropped, as they’re often confused with one another and were almost fulfilling the same purpose.
And honestly, this hasn’t had much of an effect on Facebook page owners. This is largely because Page likes were considered to be a bit of a vanity metric, in that they didn’t deliver any tangible difference to the page.
Those that liked Facebook pages in the past would automatically follow them too, so those follows are still in place. This means that that a user’s favourite pages will still be attached to their account.
It just leaves more space to join conversations on the dedicated news feed of the page. So really, the redesigned public pages on Facebook have been a bit of a win-win for everybody.
Why Start a Facebook Page – A Sense of Community
If starting a Facebook page is something that you’re interested in doing, you should know that the key is creating a community. You can only post so much yourself on a Facebook page, so it’s important to get people talking to each other on your page.
This is essentially the aim of social networks like Facebook anyway, so your task is to give people something to talk about. This is why news works so well on Facebook, along with cute videos and interesting facts and figures.
By posting this kind of stuff, you’ll have a much better chance of connecting with people. The good thing about a Facebook page is that it can make building an online community easier – as long as you do it properly, that is.