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Understanding Facebook Engagement Metrics
Understanding Facebook Engagement Metrics

Learn the meanings of Facebook metrics from the SharedCount API, including total engagements, comments, reactions, shares, and plugin counts

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Written by Kevin Zhou
Updated over a week ago

When using the SharedCount API to retrieve social media statistics, the response includes several key Facebook-related fields. This article will help you understand what each field represents to give you better insights into your social data.

Facebook Metrics Breakdown

  • Facebook

    • total_count

      • This is the aggregate sum of interactions, including reactions, comments, and shares. Use this metric to get a broad view of engagement from all activity types.

    • comment_count

      • Tracks the number of user comments on a specific post. If you’re building sentiment analysis or engagement tracking features, this is a key field to integrate.

    • reaction_count

      • The total count of reactions like likes, loves, and wows. It’s useful for gauging user sentiment toward a post, and you can break it down further depending on the use case.

    • share_count

      • This indicates how often a post has been shared by users. Shares generally reflect content users find worth distributing, making it a valuable metric for viral content tracking.

    • comment_plugin_count

      • Captures the number of comments made via the Facebook comment plugin on third-party websites. If your application integrates external comments, this helps track interaction beyond Facebook.

FAQ

Do Facebook Share Counts Include Private Shares?

Yes, SharedCount tracks both public and private shares. Even if a post is shared privately, it is still counted in the overall share volume reported by the API.

For example, if a user shares a page privately, you can observe the share count increase after the action is completed. You can use tools like the Facebook Debugger to see this effect in real time.

Does the “Total” Section Represent Total Engagement or Total Shares?

The “Total” section for Facebook represents total engagement, which includes all shares and reactions.

What is the Difference Between a Share and a Reaction?

A Share occurs when a user posts content to their timeline. In contrast, a Reaction refers to when a user interacts with a post emotionally, such as clicking “Like” or “Love.”
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What Is The Time Frame Of The Share Counts Reported?

When you make a query, we report the number of shares shared all time.

Does SharedCount support tracking shares of internal Facebook URLs?

No, SharedCount does not support tracking shares for internal Facebook URLs. This includes Facebook pages, profiles, image links, or any other URLs with the facebook.com domain.

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