FAQ: Hidden Likes on Instagram

Background:‍

As of Q2 2021, Professional, Creator, and Personal accounts on Instagram are able to hide the Like Count on their own content on a post-by-post basis. If a user has chosen to hide their Like count, Instagram/Facebook will no longer pass this data through the Facebook API. That means that some of your Dash Social metrics for UGC, Relationships, and Competitors will be impacted. The update will not impact your owned content, Vision, Visual IQ recommendations, or any content from influencers who’ve connected their Facebook/Instagram to Dash Social.

Q. What percentage of UGC posts have hidden Likes?

A. We’re seeing about 10% of posts with hidden Likes, although this may increase or decrease as Instagram continues to promote the feature.

Q. How will I know if a UGC post has hidden Likes, and which metrics are impacted?

A. If a metric has hidden Likes, you’ll see a “-” instead of the metric, a banner on the Global popup, and a tooltip that reads “Like count is hidden on this post”.

Q. What can I do to minimize the impact?

A. The best way to ensure you’re seeing accurate Like data is to encourage all influencers and paid partnerships not to hide their Likes.

Q. Which metrics will this impact?

A. Likes are included in several Dash Social metrics for UGC and Relationships, including, but not limited to the following:

• UGC Likes
• UGC Engagement Rate: Likes + Comments / Followers
• UGC Effectiveness Rate: Likes + Comments / Reach
• UGC Total Engagements: Likes + Comments
• UGC Estimated Reach (for non-professional accounts only): Estimated based on the number of Likes a post received
• UGC EMV (for non-connected accounts): Includes Likes, among other metrics, as a way to determine the impact of an Influencer.

These metrics will be impacted in the following sections: Hashtag monitor, UGC in Organic Reach, unconnected accounts in Relationships, UGC, UGC in Boards, UGC in Weekly and Monthly Reports, and Competitive Reports. This is not an exhaustive list.

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