How do media views differ from reach? Which reactions count towards engagement? Why does dividing period totals by newly published posts sometimes produce a different average? This glossary explains Facebook metrics in ContentMate, including their meaning, units, calculations and examples.
These descriptions reflect the current interface and its stored data. Not every metric is available for every Page, format or period. A metric appearing in Meta's documentation does not automatically mean ContentMate offers a corresponding dashboard card. For navigation, see Understanding Facebook analytics.
Keep four different reference sets separate
| Reference set | What it describes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Activity during the period | Imported activity or observed counter changes on the selected days; older posts can contribute | An August post receives 12 additional comments in October |
| Posts published during the period | A defined group of posts and their stored cumulative counters up to the applicable cutoff | Average performance of the four posts published in October |
| Snapshot | Latest stored total at the relevant cutoff | 1,200 followers |
| All time | Latest imported cumulative values of individual media since publication | An older post has 8,000 total views |
For Today/Yesterday, eligible metrics are calculated from stored hourly observations. This does not measure every Facebook event live. Native daily and period metrics depend on their own availability. The workspace timezone determines local windows; detail histories explicitly marked UTC retain that time basis.
A dash is not zero. It represents missing, unsupported or uncomputable data. An explicitly imported 0 is a valid measurement. The first import of an older post often lacks the baseline needed to separate activity before and after connection.
Followers and Page likes
Page followers
Unit: accounts, snapshot. The latest stored follower total within the selected period. Daily totals are not added: 1,000 on Monday and 1,010 on Tuesday produce a later total of 1,010, not 2,010.
Followers are accounts following the Page. They are neither reached accounts nor necessarily people who have liked the Page.
Followers gained
Unit: accounts per period. Sum of the daily new followers reported by Meta. These are gross gains before losses are deducted. Thirty new followers and twelve unfollows still mean thirty followers gained. The same person can follow again on another day; adding daily figures does not create a deduplicated list for the entire period.
For Today/Yesterday, this gross figure is not invented from two follower totals. A positive difference cannot reveal how many other people unfollowed at the same time.
Followers lost
Unit: accounts per period. Sum of daily unfollows reported by Meta. This is displayed as a count, for example 12, rather than an already negative net result. It does not count negative comments and is not a general dissatisfaction index.
Follower evolution
Unit: accounts, signed. For periods covering multiple days: followers gained − followers lost. Example: 30 − 12 = +18. Local day views can instead use an available net observation derived from stored totals. Corrections and different observation times can cause these sources to differ.
Page likes / Fans
Unit: accounts, stock. Accounts that liked the Page, a different total from followers. ContentMate may use an available historical Page-like value as the denominator of the specifically named reach rate. Missing fans are not replaced by followers. Historical fans insights do not guarantee a continuously updated present-day series.
Views and reach
Views / Media views
Unit: count. Meta-reported views of the Page's content. One person can count repeatedly. Current Facebook reports use media views; older wording such as “impressions” should not be read as an additional independent reach figure.
Views do not describe website visits or a minimum watch duration of 15 or 30 seconds. 1,000 media views therefore mean neither 1,000 different people nor 1,000 qualified video views.
Reach / Unique media viewers
Unit: unique accounts within the matching report window. Meta-reported unique viewers of media. ContentMate needs the exactly matching imported value for period reach. It does not add daily reach values and call the result unique monthly reach.
Example: 100 accounts reached on Monday and 100 on Tuesday, with 60 present on both days. Combined reach would be 140, not 200. The two daily numbers alone cannot establish that result.
The current Facebook import can use matching native windows of 1, 7 or 28 complete calendar days. Other windows, a missing import or unmatched time boundaries can leave the period card unavailable even when daily values exist. Rates using that denominator are also unavailable.
Average views per post
Unit: views per published post. Sum of available cumulative views for posts published during the selected period, as of the applicable cutoff, divided by the number of those posts. Four posts with 2,000 views between them produce 500.
This is not all Page views during the period divided by four: Page views can include older posts. A post without a complete measurement is not automatically zero. With no posts, an average is undefined.
Average reach per post
Unit: reached accounts per post. Sum of individual post reach within the publication selection, divided by its post count. Three posts reaching 100, 200 and 300 accounts produce 200.
This averages individual post reach. The same person can appear under several posts, so the sum of 600 is not unique Page reach.
Average reach rate by followers
Unit: percent. Average reach per post ÷ stored follower total × 100. An average reach of 200 and 1,000 followers produce 20%. Non-followers can be reached too, so values above 100% are possible. This is not the measured proportion of your followers who saw every post.
Average reach rate by Page likes
Unit: percent. Average reach per post ÷ available Page-like total × 100. With 200 and 800 the result is 25%. The difference from the previous example's 20% comes from the denominator. Missing historical Page likes or a zero denominator make the rate unavailable.
Reach by post type
Unit: average post reach per format. Groups posts published during the selected period, for example into photos, videos, links, status posts or Reels. Available post reach is averaged within each group. Consider the accompanying post count: one successful video does not establish a reliable prediction for the format. Missing measurements can limit the subset represented.
Reactions, comments and shares
Reactions
Unit: count. Facebook reactions to posts, not just likes. Activity reports use stored changes; All media shows the latest observed cumulative counters. Removed or corrected reactions can produce negative net changes. Switching from Like to Love can change the breakdown without increasing the total.
Like
Unit: reactions. The standard positive reaction to a post. A post like is not a Page like or a new follower. Ten likes are ten reactions of this type, not ten additional comments.
Love
Unit: reactions. The heart reaction. It contributes one reaction to engagement, just like a Like. ContentMate does not award it a larger score.
Haha
Unit: reactions. The laughing reaction. It records the chosen response, not automatic approval: humour, irony and criticism cannot be distinguished from this counter alone.
Wow
Unit: reactions. The surprised reaction. It also counts once, without a separate weighting.
Sad
Unit: reactions. The sad reaction. It is not subtracted from engagement or automatically classified as negative feedback; it can express sympathy.
Angry
Unit: reactions. The angry reaction. It contributes to engagement. A high count might reflect criticism or anger about the subject, but the counter is not an automatic sentiment analysis.
Reaction distribution
Unit: count and percentage per type. Latest observed reactions on posts published during the selected period. Share = reactions of one type ÷ all reactions included in the breakdown × 100. Twenty Love reactions among 100 reactions produce 20%. The six displayed types are Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry. A separate Care breakdown is not offered here.
The reaction-type history instead describes observed daily net changes by type and is labelled as a UTC history. A distribution and an activity timeline therefore answer different questions.
Comments
Unit: count. Imported comment counter or its observed change. This is not a count of distinct commenters. One person can write several comments, and removals or corrections can reduce the counter. The analytics total need not equal the number of threads currently visible in the Inbox.
Shares
Unit: count. Shares reported by Facebook. The metric does not tell you how many additional people those shares reached. Three shares are three shares, not three new followers. Usage that is not publicly measurable and API restrictions can limit the available information.
Clicks and engagement
Click activity / Post clicks / Clicks
Unit: count. Facebook post clicks. Depending on the content, these can include opening a photo, a link or other post elements. The total is not a pure external-link counter or a count of unique website visitors.
ContentMate currently displays the total. This does not promise separate reliable cards for link clicks, photo views, video starts and other clicks. Website sessions and purchases require corresponding website or conversion data.
Average click activity per post
Unit: clicks per newly published post. The current card divides click activity during the period by the number of posts published in that period. With 120 clicks and four new posts the result is 30. Clicks on older posts can contribute to the numerator. This is a period ratio, not isolated lifetime performance of only those four posts. No posts means no computable average.
Post engagements / Engagement
Unit: interactions. ContentMate's common calculation is reactions + comments + shares. Clicks are displayed separately and are not added here. For example, 80 reactions + 15 comments + 5 shares = 100 engagements.
This counts interactions, not unique engaged people. One person can cause several actions. Removed content can cause negative observed changes; this does not imply a negative number of people.
Click Rate
Unit: percent. The card currently bearing this label calculates click activity ÷ post engagements × 100. With 120 clicks and 100 engagements the result is 120%. This is not conventional click-through rate, whose denominator would be impressions, or the proportion of people who clicked. Clicks and the three-component engagement total are separate quantities. The derived click cards can currently display a dash when the reported click count is zero; check the absolute click activity in that case.
Average engagement rate / Engagement rate by followers
Unit: percent. Period engagement ÷ stored follower total × 100. One hundred engagements and 1,000 followers produce 10%. The result is not additionally divided by post count.
The current interface sometimes labels this card “Average engagement rate per post (followers)”. The period formula above is authoritative for that card; it is not an average of individual post rates. A 10% result also does not mean exactly 10% of followers engaged: non-followers and repeated actions may contribute.
Engagement rate by reach
Unit: percent. Period engagement ÷ exactly matching period reach × 100. One hundred interactions and 500 reached accounts produce 20%. A missing reach value or zero denominator makes the rate unavailable. Multiple actions per person also mean this is not a percentage of distinct engaged people.
Average engagements per post
Unit: interactions per post. Total engagement of posts published during the period, up to the applicable cutoff, divided by the number of those posts. Four posts with 80 reactions, 15 comments and five shares between them produce 25. Unlike the period rate, this average evaluates the publication selection.
Average reactions per post
Unit: reactions per post. Reactions within the publication selection ÷ number of selected posts. Eighty ÷ four = 20. A correctly reported post with zero reactions belongs in the denominator; a missing measurement is not a reported zero.
Average comments per post
Unit: comments per post. Comments within the publication selection ÷ its post count. Fifteen ÷ four = 3.75. Fractional averages are normal even though individual comments are counted in whole numbers.
Average shares per post
Unit: shares per post. Shares within the publication selection ÷ its post count. Five ÷ four = 1.25. Prefer comparisons of similar formats and similarly aged content.
Engagement rate of an individual medium
Unit: percent, in All media and post details. (Reactions + comments + shares) for that medium ÷ its reach × 100. Fifty interactions and 500 reached accounts produce 10%. This post-level rate uses its reach, not Page followers. Averaging individual percentages does not automatically produce a correctly combined rate.
Page post engagements
Unit: Meta-reported interactions with Page posts. A separate Page Insights value. Meta's coverage can include click activity, so it is not identical to ContentMate's three-component sum. Do not add the two engagement figures: they overlap.
Page actions
Unit: actions on the Page. Meta-reported activity on Page or contact functions. This is neither all reactions nor all Page views. The card uses the imported count and does not convert it into leads or revenue.
Content, distributions and recommendations
Posts
Unit: published posts. Counts imported publications whose publication date falls within the selected period. A scheduled draft does not yet count; an older post receiving new likes does not become a new publication. The inventory under All media is independent of this period.
Post types and monthly distribution
Unit: posts, optionally percent. Groups publications by imported format or by month and year. Format share = posts of that format ÷ all posts in the selection × 100. Six photos among ten posts produce 60%. This measures your publishing mix, not how views are distributed between formats.
Post density: Posts and average posts per day
Unit: posts or posts per observed weekday. Bars total publications on each weekday. The line divides by the number of available daily values for that weekday. Four Tuesdays containing eight posts produce two per Tuesday. An imported zero day counts; a missing day does not. Incomplete history can therefore change the average.
Average engagements by post type
Unit: interactions per post within a format. Average observed post performance for each format. Five photos with 100 interactions produce 20, while two videos with 80 produce 40. Small groups and different content ages limit comparison. A breakdown marked unavailable is not a reliable estimate.
Best time to post
Unit: average interactions per post and time slot. The heatmap considers publications from the last 365 days, independently of a shorter period selected above. It groups posts by weekday and hour in the workspace timezone and calculates average(reactions + comments + shares) from posts with all three measurements.
Recommendations require at least 20 eligible posts overall and three posts in an individual slot. At most five eligible slots are highlighted. Sample size and confidence help interpret the result. An empty cell means insufficient observation, not proof of a bad publishing time. This heatmap also does not measure when all your followers are online.
Countries and cities
Unit: followers per location, optionally a share. The currently imported geographical follower distribution. It does not reveal individual people's whereabouts or necessarily describe the audience reached during the selected month. Unassigned or privacy-limited values can be absent. Countries and cities are alternative breakdowns and must not be added together.
Share = location count ÷ sum of all returned entries in that breakdown × 100. Two hundred followers from Germany among 800 assigned country entries produce 25%, even if the total follower count is 1,000. The denominator here is the reported breakdown.
Videos and Reels
3s / Video views
Unit: qualified video views. The separate video counter for at least three seconds, or nearly the full duration of shorter videos, where Meta supplies it for the medium. It is narrower than general media views. In media details, 3s denotes this counter. A repeat does not automatically represent an additional unique person.
15s
Unit: video views meeting the corresponding watch threshold. The imported 15-second counter in media details. It is not estimated from views and video length. Unsupported formats or missing observations leave it unavailable. An available general Page-video history should not be mistaken for a guaranteed populated 15-second counter.
30s / Complete video views
Unit: qualified video views. The 30-second value counts views reaching the relevant threshold, or the end of shorter videos, according to Meta's definition. For a five-minute video, a 30-second view does not mean five minutes were watched. The Page history describes corresponding activity across observed Page videos; media details describe one medium.
30-second autoplay views
Unit: qualified views. Automatically started playback that reaches the 30-second/short-video threshold. This is a subset by playback-start type, not an additional total. The card requires a matching imported period report.
Unique 30-second views
Unit: unique viewers within the report window. People or accounts reaching the relevant watch threshold. Do not add across days or videos to create a supposedly unique total. This specific metric is not the same as the former general “unique video views” metric.
Watchtime / Total watch time
Unit: duration. Total observed viewing time for a video. Values supplied in milliseconds are converted to seconds, minutes or hours for display: 60,000 ms = 60 seconds = one minute. Repeated playback by one person contributes repeatedly. Missing duration is not calculated from the number of views.
Average watch / Average watch time
Unit: duration per qualifying playback. Meta's imported average for the video. For example, a matching 600 seconds of total watch time across 20 eligible playbacks means 30 seconds. Do not choose a general media-view counter as the denominator indiscriminately. Averages from different videos or days cannot be simply averaged without their appropriate weights.
Completion
Unit: percent. In media details ContentMate calculates 30-second views ÷ video views × 100. Forty qualified 30-second views among 100 video views produce 40%. For longer videos this is a threshold ratio, not a true “watched to the final frame” rate. Missing values make the rate unavailable; a missing zero must not be interpreted as either success or failure.
Reels Plays
Unit: plays. The play counter supplied for a Reel. It does not count distinct viewers. The format and available Meta metric determine whether the value is populated.
Total plays
Unit: total Reel playbacks. Meta's separate total-play counter. Where Meta distinguishes initial plays and replays, the total includes replays. Do not add Reels Plays, Total plays and Replays: these quantities overlap.
Replays
Unit: repeat playbacks. Repeat viewing separately reported by Meta. Ten replays do not mean ten new viewers. ContentMate uses an available counter rather than inventing one by subtracting incompatible play metrics.
Reels reach
Unit: unique accounts reached by the Reel. The imported individual-media figure. One viewer can appear in the reach of several Reels, so their sum would not be deduplicated Page reach.
Reels reactions, comments and shares
Unit: the respective interactions. The same definitions as for posts, restricted to the Reel format. A history describes observed changes between imports; a media value describes the latest cumulative total. The dashboard does not currently promise fully available reports for followers gained through Reels, detailed view sources or additional playback breakdowns.
Comparisons and unavailable metrics
Change from the comparison period
Unit: percent. With a valid previous value: (current − previous) ÷ previous × 100. Moving from 100 to 120 means +20%. A rate moving from 4% to 5% increases by one percentage point, but by 25% relatively. This is not a forecast and is not automatically calculable when the previous value is zero or missing. Trends can be hidden when insufficient history exists.
Negative feedback, unique clickers and historical metrics
Older Meta reports include terms such as negative feedback, hide post, report spam, unique clickers, paid/unpaid fans and old impressions subtypes. ContentMate does not currently provide a complete set of standalone Facebook dashboard metrics for these. An absent report does not mean nobody hid or reported anything.
Meta replaces and removes metrics across API versions. In particular, current media views, unique media viewers and followers should not be joined blindly to historical impressions or fans series. Organic and paid figures are subsets where available; their existence in Meta does not automatically make them available in ContentMate.
Sources and further help
Updated: 11 October 2026. Definitions and examples were checked against current ContentMate views, imports and calculations and Meta's official reference. Meta can change definitions and availability.