{"id":23891,"date":"2026-09-10T21:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T21:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/is-the-like-button-dead\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T21:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T21:52:19","slug":"is-the-like-button-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/is-the-like-button-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Like Button dead?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><strong>Yeah, this one\u2019s gonna be spicy. <\/strong><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">I\u2019ve been\u2026 let\u2019s say, challenging the thinking of professional social media <\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lnkd.in\/p\/gntaTxDY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" class=\"_3k8pkd0\">over on my LinkedIn<\/a><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"> this week. Those comments + an essay I read from a very bright social analytics thinker turned into this week\u2019s newsletter, which I\u2019m pretty excited about\u2014you know I love the chance to wildly speculate about what\u2019s next in social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">So today, we\u2019ll hit on:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dream-post-content-bulletList _1ao94nj0\">\n<ul translations=\"[object Object]\" class=\"_1ao94nj1\">\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Why likes &amp; comments might be dead<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Why social media\u2019s getting a whole lot like Wall-E<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">What metrics you need to be focusing on<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dream-post-content-imageBlock _2fealp0\" style=\"--caption-alignment:center\">\n<div class=\"_2fealp1\"><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 360px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=720,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/f7e11582-5057-4701-8eea-9e83789efe92\/Screenshot_2026-09-03_at_11.54.18_AM.png?t=1788450861 2x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 360px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=360,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/f7e11582-5057-4701-8eea-9e83789efe92\/Screenshot_2026-09-03_at_11.54.18_AM.png?t=1788450861 1x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 430px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=860,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/f7e11582-5057-4701-8eea-9e83789efe92\/Screenshot_2026-09-03_at_11.54.18_AM.png?t=1788450861 2x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 430px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=430,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/f7e11582-5057-4701-8eea-9e83789efe92\/Screenshot_2026-09-03_at_11.54.18_AM.png?t=1788450861 1x\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\" style=\"--text-align:left\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\">Truly hate it. I thinkkk I found a way to make it easier, tho.<\/mark><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\">Most of my travel beef is health &amp; comfort related. I\u2019m an oversized human at 6\u20195\u201d, I sleep terribly, and I\u2019m battling a bad back\u2026 naturally, that makes airplanes no bueno for me unless I get the right seats &amp; flights, whichhhh is never easy.<\/mark><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\">Then <\/mark><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/navan.com\/sign-up\/navan-edge\/business-travel?utm_source=linkedin&amp;utm_medium=organic_social&amp;utm_campaign=partners&amp;utm_content=jack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" class=\"_3k8pkd0\">Navan Edge<\/a><\/mark><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\"> hit me up to help out\u2014they\u2019re an AI personal assistant for my business travel. I literally just start talking to my computer with an \u201chey I need an aisle or exit row so my knees don\u2019t break, also a flight that leaves after 11 am so I don\u2019t wake up insanely early to get to the airport\u201d anddd it spits out exactly the right travel options for me without me needing to open another tab.\u00a0<\/mark><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><mark data-color=\"#ffffff\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0.25em;box-decoration-break:clone;color:inherit;padding:0.125em 0;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone\">Just used it on an actual work trip, and yeah\u2014it booked my perfect flight and seat right in the chat. For someone as needy about travel as I am, &#8220;just tell it what you need and it handles the rest&#8221; is a prettyyy nice change of pace.\u00a0<\/mark><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dream-post-content-imageBlock _2fealp0\" style=\"--caption-alignment:center\">\n<div class=\"_2fealp1\"><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 360px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=720,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a6ca156f-cf40-4d69-86c2-664bccfd8365\/dorseywalle__1_.jpg?t=1788449191 2x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 360px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=360,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a6ca156f-cf40-4d69-86c2-664bccfd8365\/dorseywalle__1_.jpg?t=1788449191 1x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 430px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=860,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a6ca156f-cf40-4d69-86c2-664bccfd8365\/dorseywalle__1_.jpg?t=1788449191 2x\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 430px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,width=430,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a6ca156f-cf40-4d69-86c2-664bccfd8365\/dorseywalle__1_.jpg?t=1788449191 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.beehiiv.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=scale-down,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect\/uploads\/asset\/file\/a6ca156f-cf40-4d69-86c2-664bccfd8365\/dorseywalle__1_.jpg?t=1788449191\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;border-radius:0px\" class=\"_2fealp2 _2fealp5\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Nobody is smashing the like button anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Let\u2019s be real, here. When you\u2019re mindlessly scrolling TikTok ten minutes after your alarm goes off (I know you do it), you\u2019re not tapping the heart button or leaving a comment. You\u2019re just gonna flick your thumb so the next Tok appears. Anddd you\u2019ll rinse &amp; repeat that for 45 minutes until you\u2019re late for a meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Even more wild, the algorithms don\u2019t even need us to like or comment to know what content we\u2019re gonna gobble up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">That\u2019s undeniably the way most social media works now, and the data proves it\u2026 yet most social media professionals are still highly focused on the likes and comments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">But I genuinely think we\u2019re moving to a post-like world. A post-engagement social media era. That probably sounds hyperbolic (or dystopian), but I strongly believe Social Media Marketers need to revisit their strategies and metrics for a world where people scroll without engaging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">The data says we don\u2019t like or comment anymore.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"dream-post-content-bulletList _1ao94nj0\">\n<ul translations=\"[object Object]\" class=\"_1ao94nj1\">\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Average likes on carousels: down 73%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Average likes on Reels: down 81%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Average comments on Carousels: down 39%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"_11av8sw0\" translations=\"[object Object]\">\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Average comments on Reels: down 46%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Pretty staggering drop-offs. I love how he checked his data, too\u2014Gabe went back and checked if the top 1% of content experienced the fall, and sure enough, engagement was down 54% or more in the same categories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">The best content is getting dramatically less engagement than 18 months ago. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Took a look at <\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialinsider.io\/social-media-benchmarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" class=\"_3k8pkd0\">SocialInsider\u2019s 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report<\/a><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">, too. \u201c&#8221;Average comments per post fell on TikTok (24%) and Instagram (16%), suggesting a shift toward more passive engagement.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">That\u2019s not a content problem or an algorithm problem\u2026 thatttt is a fundamental change in how people use social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">TikTok\u2019s doesn\u2019t need the like button<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">While we\u2019re over here panicking about declining engagement rates, the social platforms have already solved it on their end. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">TikTok&#8217;s algorithm now weights watch time, completion rate, and replays as the strongest signals of whether you like a piece of content. They\u2019re even tracking micro-watches (when you rewatch a specific segment of a video). Meanwhile Instagram\u2019s measuring dwell time on carousels, and LinkedIn&#8217;s own engineering team said that how long someone spends reading your post is now a primary rank signal. Not comments or likes, but how long you\u2019re staring at content. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">If I watch 30 seconds of an emo band\u2019s TikTok, I don\u2019t have to like, or follow, or comment, because TikTok caught those 30 seconds and will give me more content from that band. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">So what does &#8220;engagement&#8221; even mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Everyone in ~professional social~ focuses on likes, comments, shares, and engagement rates. They\u2019re just not the best metrics anymore, folks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Hell, even Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri\u2019s told us that. It\u2019s all about views, watch through, and shares. Those numbers are what make Instagram\u2019s algorithm go brrrrr.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">We\u2019ve gotta shift comments and likes to secondary status. They\u2019re nice to haves, but they shouldn\u2019t be the goal anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">What should social teams focus on if people don\u2019t like and comment ever again?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">If the future of social media is all passive consumption, we\u2019ve gotta emphasize the new basics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><span style=\"font-family:inherit;font-weight:700;--font-size:100%;--mobile-font-size:inherit\"><strong>Watch time and completion rate become the metrics that actually matter.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"> How long did they watch, did they finish it, did they rewatch? Those are your new 3 magical questions to ask of your analytics. Those numbers decide if the algorithm pushes your content. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><span style=\"font-family:inherit;font-weight:700;--font-size:100%;--mobile-font-size:inherit\"><strong>Hooks become even more important.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"> You\u2019re not trying to earn a like, you\u2019re trying to wave your arms, flash bright lights, and do whatever it takes to earn someone\u2019s attention. You gotta hook \u2018em so they start watching. No hook, no shot at retention, no algorithmic push. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\"><span style=\"font-family:inherit;font-weight:700;--font-size:100%;--mobile-font-size:inherit\"><strong>Stop saying you\u2019re \u201cbuilding community.\u201d You\u2019re not (and you never were, tbh). <\/strong><\/span><\/span><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">I see lots of Social Media Managers claim their comments are proof of community, whichhh they are not. A community interacts with each other. Your brand\u2019s comment section is a bunch of randos talking to the brand. And like we\u2019ve shown, that\u2019s less frequent than ever now. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">But there is some good news<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Yeah, we gotta shift metrics, but this is all because of the interest-graph era of social media. This new For You Page era means if viewers like our content, we can be seen by FAR MORE PEOPLE than during the Follower era. Our organic social content can reach our current customers, our potential customers, people with some brand awareness about us\u2014the algorithms are truly brilliant at putting our content in front of the right eyeballs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"j6zgbu0\">\n<p class=\"dream-post-content-paragraph j6zgbu1\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">All you gotta do is become an expert in video best practices, and not worry about the validation of the likes and comments.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><h2 class=\"hynlcx1 hynlcx3\" translations=\"[object Object]\"><span class=\"hxnnnr0\">Some extra analysis from my Instagram<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding:0.25rem\">\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed max-w-[325px] rounded-sm\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@jackapplebyny\/video\/7678409634381679903\" data-video-id=\"7678409634381679903\" data-from-oembed=\"true\">\n<section><a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@jackapplebyny\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@jackapplebyny\" rel=\"noreferrer\">@<!-- -->jackapplebyny<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Instagram will now have a 2 hour time limit every day for teenagers as part of that $18 billion settlement\u2026 @sean doesn\u2019t think it\u2019ll chan&#8230; See more<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/futuresocial.beehiiv.com\/p\/is-the-like-button-dead?utm_source=tldrmarketing\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yeah, this one\u2019s gonna be spicy. I\u2019ve been\u2026 let\u2019s say, challenging the thinking of professional social media over on my LinkedIn this week. Those comments + an essay I read from a very bright social analytics thinker turned into this week\u2019s newsletter, which I\u2019m pretty excited about\u2014you know I love the chance to wildly speculate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":23892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scannn.com\/lv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}