Facebook Metric Deprecations April 2024

Facebook recently announced they are deprecating a number of Page-level metrics, both in their API for partners like Sprout, as well as in their native reporting on April 19, 2024.

Do these changes only impact Sprout Social?

These metric changes impact native Facebook reports and all third-party Meta Partners that use Meta’s APIs, including Sprout Social.

How does this impact me and my Sprout reporting?

There are three main areas of impact including:

Collecting and calculating page-level engagements in the Facebook Pages Report and Profile Performance Report will change.
Breakdowns for page-level engagements and total reactions. These breakdowns will become more limited.
Calculations for Paid vs. Organic are being simplified, but won't match Facebook and Instagram Paid Performance Reports.

Which Metrics Changed?

Network Change	Prior to April 19	After Deprecations on April 19	What does this mean?
Collecting Page-Level Engagements	Facebook included these metrics in one page-level engagement number (paid and organic page activity included): Comments Shares Answers Event RSVPs Offer Claims Other Positive Feedback Other Post Clicks	Sprout can now collect and calculate page-level engagements from these post-level metrics once daily: Comments Shares Link Clicks Other Post Clicks	Sprout is calculating post engagements once per day rather than using API, as Meta previously provided. This changes how we calculate engagements: We’ll combine post-level data with ad-level data from ads published to the page. And when we calculate engagements: daily vs directly via API.
Page-Level Activity	Profile Engagement included Page-Level Activity on any posts outside of the polling window.	Sprout calculates page-level engagement metrics from posts and are limited to 90 days of backfill.	Meta previously provided all page-level activity on all posts regardless of when the post was published. If a post from 4 months ago was still getting engagement, it was included. Now, Sprout needs to calculate page-level engagements from posts that were published and are limited to 90 days of backfill.
Paid/Ad Post Activity	Facebook engagement included paid and organic page-level engagement. All paid engagements, regardless if you had access to other ad accounts or not, were rolled up into one page-level metric. In order to get an accurate breakdown of organic vs paid, customers were encouraged to connect ALL active ad accounts running any paid activity on this page. If you did not have access to the other ad accounts, your organic numbers would be inflated with the paid engagements of the unconnected ad account.	Sprout calculates page-level engagement metrics from post-level data. Sprout can only collect data on ads that get published as a post to your page. Sprout can only retrieve paid engagement data from connected ad account assets.	Dark posts or unpublished ad posts are no longer included in page-level engagements. This will likely result in a decrease in Link Clicks. If you do not have all corresponding Facebook Ad Accounts connected to your Sprout Group, this will limit the data we can access on the post-level. Your engagement metrics will only show organic engagements and paid engagements only from your connected ad account. Sprout does not have any engagement data for dynamic ads or ad posts that are Placement Asset Customization.

Network Change

Prior to April 19

After Deprecations on April 19

What does this mean?

Collecting Page-Level Engagements

Facebook included these metrics in one page-level engagement number (paid and organic page activity included):

Comments
Shares
Answers
Event RSVPs
Offer Claims
Other Positive
Feedback
Other Post Clicks

Sprout can now collect and calculate page-level engagements from these post-level metrics once daily:

Comments
Shares
Link Clicks
Other Post Clicks

Sprout is calculating post engagements once per day rather than using API, as Meta previously provided.

This changes how we calculate engagements: We’ll combine post-level data with ad-level data from ads published to the page.

And when we calculate engagements: daily vs directly via API.

Page-Level Activity

Profile Engagement included Page-Level Activity on any posts outside of the polling window.

Sprout calculates page-level engagement metrics from posts and are limited to 90 days of backfill.

Meta previously provided all page-level activity on all posts regardless of when the post was published.

If a post from 4 months ago was still getting engagement, it was included. Now, Sprout needs to calculate page-level engagements from posts that were published and are limited to 90 days of backfill.

Paid/Ad Post Activity

Facebook engagement included paid and organic page-level engagement. All paid engagements, regardless if you had access to other ad accounts or not, were rolled up into one page-level metric.

In order to get an accurate breakdown of organic vs paid, customers were encouraged to connect ALL active ad accounts running any paid activity on this page.

If you did not have access to the other ad accounts, your organic numbers would be inflated with the paid engagements of the unconnected ad account.

Sprout calculates page-level engagement metrics from post-level data.

Sprout can only collect data on ads that get published as a post to your page.

Sprout can only retrieve paid engagement data from connected ad account assets.

Dark posts or unpublished ad posts are no longer included in page-level engagements. This will likely result in a decrease in Link Clicks.

If you do not have all corresponding Facebook Ad Accounts connected to your Sprout Group, this will limit the data we can access on the post-level.

Your engagement metrics will only show organic engagements and paid engagements only from your connected ad account.

Sprout does not have any engagement data for dynamic ads or ad posts that are Placement Asset Customization.

Page-level engagement breakdowns

Counted as a page-level engagement Prior to April 19

Counts as a page-level engagement After April 19

Page Activities

Offer Claims
Positive Feedback
Answers
Event RSVPs
Facebook Stories
Other Profile About Clicks (when users click anywhere in your profile without engaging with a post)

Posts Published to the Page

Post Reactions
Post Comments
Post Shares
Post Link Clicks
Other Post Clicks (when users click anywhere in your post without opening a web link, reacting to, commenting on, or sharing)
Post Engagements resulting from Paid ads (boosted posts)

Dark Posts running via Ad Accounts that take place on the Facebook Page (ie, Awareness, Traffic, Leads, App Promotion Campaigns, etc.)

Ad Reactions
Ad Comments
Ad Shares
Ad Link Clicks
Other Ad Clicks (when users click anywhere in your Ad without opening a web link, reacting to, commenting on, or sharing)

Activities happening outside of the Facebook Page and IG Placements were not included (ie Messenger, WhatsApp, Marketplace, Audience Network, Banner, and Interstitial ads).

Sprout did not require an ad account to be connected in order to receive the page-level total engagements. An ad account only needed to be connected to be able to break down organic vs paid activity.

Posts Published to the Page

Post Reactions
Post Comments
Post Shares
Post Link Clicks
Other Post Clicks (when users click anywhere in your post without opening a web link, reacting to, commenting on, or sharing)
Post Engagements resulting from Paid ads (boosted posts - post must be published to the page)

The ad account running boosted posts must be connected to Sprout in order for Sprout to be able to include paid engagements in this calculation.

Sprout calculates page-level engagement metrics from posts, which are limited to engagement activity from posts published within 90 days.

What if I'm a Premium Analytics user?

You can no longer dimension the Engagement widget in the Facebook Pages Report by the reaction types listed above. However, reaction breakdowns are still available in the Post Performance Report.

Simplifying Paid vs. Organic calculations

In the Facebook Pages Report and Profile Performance Report, your Facebook paid engagements will be available and are calculated off of Boosted Posts and Ad Posts.

With this change, the paid engagements in these reports won't match what is provided in the Facebook and Instagram Paid Performance Report, because Ads not published as a post on your page won't be included. Sprout recommends relying on the Facebook and Instagram Paid Performance Report for ad-specific reporting. Both Sprout reports are accurate, but you should avoid comparing them to one another. Facebook and Instagram Paid Performance Reports are focused on all Ad reporting. The Facebook Pages Report is used to measure spend on posts published to your page. The numbers are different because it's comparing two different use cases.

I’m seeing significant discrepancies in my metrics, what would be the cause?

There are several factors that could contribute in a dip in engagements starting on March 1st:

Activity on posts outside of the polling window: Page Insights provided activity on all posts, regardless of when the post was published. Due to the deprecations, Sprout has to calculate engagements from posts, and are limited to 90 days of backfills.
Activity on stories: Facebook stories are included in Page level engagements, but due to network limitations, we are unable to access insights on individual stories in Sprout. We cannot include story engagements as part of our new engagement calculation.
Ad Posts: If you have ads published to your Facebook Page, but don't have your ad account connected in Sprout, Sprout is unable to include activity from those Ad Posts in the page level roll-up. If you have this issue, you will likely have a significant decrease in Link Clicks. Connect your ad account to enable Sprout to receive metrics on these posts. Sprout can't backfill data, so those discrepancies will remain.

What steps do you recommend moving forward?

We recommend connecting all ad accounts running any paid activity on your connected profile for the most accurate representation of total engagements and paid/organic breakdown.
If you’re an agency or need to explain the metrics changes, please leverage the page level engagements breakdown and how the metrics are now calculated.

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