Facebook is changing the way it’s counting/allocating “likes” for Facebook Pages.  They will be subtracting any account’s “Likes” that have been either manually deactivated or “memorialized” after the has owner passed. So, if you see your Facebook Page’s “Likes” drop suddenly, it is most likely not because of something you or staff did, it is because of this new policy.

From now on, all Facebook accounts that are voluntarily deactivated or memorialized will be removed from a Page’s like count. If a deactivated account is reactivated, the account will be re-added to a Page’s like count.

If your page has a few hundred “Likes” on it, there is a chance that you may lose a few and it should not affect you as much. But, if your page has thousands of Likes, Facebook’s new rule could show a significant drop in your Page’s “Likes”.  If it is your job to increase your company’s Facebook page’s Likes then I would recommend showing your boss this article.

“Businesses use Page audience data to understand what their followers care about. To make audience data even more meaningful for businesses, we’re updating the way Page likes are counted by removing memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts from Pages’ like counts. This change ensures that data on Facebook is consistent and up-to-date,” Facebook Post on the issue.

There are two main benefits to removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized Facebook accounts from Pages’ like counts:

• Business results: Removing inactive Facebook accounts from Page audience data gives businesses up-to-date insights on the people who actively follow their Page and makes it easier for businesses to find people like their followers through tools like lookalike audiences.
• Consistency: We already filter out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual Page posts, so this update keeps data consistent.