On Monday, March 16, 2015, many agencies, brand managers, social media gurus, and numerous other entrepreneurs who manage their brand’s Facebook page woke up to disaster. Facebook likes on their page crumbled. Ok. Maybe that’s stretching it, as most brands saw only a slight decrease in brand likes, perhaps as much as 5%-10%.
But here’s what happened.
Facebook Eliminated Deactivated Accounts From Brand Page Counts
Deactivated accounts are accounts that users have chosen to turn off but not completely delete. Many people want to step away from Facebook for a little, and if they deactivate their account temporarily, then when they return, all their friends and liked pages would be turned back on. So a Facebook Page liked by these deactivated accounts loses the like count on the Page for now. However, the like will automatically come back when the account is reactivated.