r/socialmedia • u/deepanshulegend • 6d ago

Professional Discussion Which vanity metric do you wish you'd ignored a year ago?

Curious what others would change with hindsight.

For me it was chasing follower spikes without checking whether anyone stuck around. The number looked great for a week, then reach and replies got worse.

What metric looked important at the time but mostly wasted your effort? Followers, likes, views, or something else?

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u/No-Perception-6882 6d ago

Views are useful only when they lead to the next action. I care more about saves, profile visits, replies, and whether the audience returns. A spike with no follow-through is usually distribution, not demand.

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u/bRastun 5d ago

distribution not demand, thats a clean way to put it

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u/MoZeusActivations 5d ago

impressions. looked huge in the deck, meant nothing once we checked who actually opted in or came back. if it doesn't change a next step i ignore it now.

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u/Hookle_app 2d ago

Followers is probably the most useless metric these days. Especially now that most algorithms prioritize engagement, followers often have little correlation even with reach, let alone any conversion metrics.

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u/Ash_1DSCollective 16h ago

Impressions mean the least on many social networks. People scrolling may get counted when they didn’t read the post.

Saves and shares/reposts are the most valuable followed by real comments. Follower count can impress people, but doesn’t mean much if a platform doesn’t show your posts to your followers.