Over the past few days many Facebook Page administrators have noticed their fan counts decreasing. If you’ve seen this happen, you are not alone. We’ve reached out to Facebook but haven’t received a response on the issue, which means there is probably a bug which needs to be fixed. Unfortunately there hasn’t been any clarifications from Facebook, but don’t worry as many other people have noticed similar issues.
We watched our Facebook Page increasing in popularity earlier this week, however starting three days ago, the number of fans we have has decreased by over 400. Initially I thought that there had been a temporary surge in fans which was followed by a random mass “unfanning”, something that has never taken place to us before. Even the top Facebook Pages, like Michael Jackson, have seen their fans decreasing.
So what on earth is going on? We have no idea to be honest but rather than not posting about the issue, we’ve decided to make it known that this issue appears to be happening to the vast majority of Facebook Pages. Don’t worry though, your fans should all be intact. We’ll definitely be sure to update this Page once we receive any information from Facebook, who has so far been quiet about the problem.
Update
Facebook provided us with the following statement: “There was a bug that caused an accounting error for the number of people who like a Page. We are working hard to fix this bug and restore the counts as quickly as possible. No fans or data was lost, and news feed distribution has not been affected.”
Additionally, as some have noted in the comments, Facebook appears to have fixed the bug for Pages since last night.






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Same thing happens on twitter; that's why you don't put your facebook in your twitter or your twitter in your facebook; you'll end up with cross contamination, LOL!!!
Comment by Gabriel Bryan McBrid — June 11, 2010 @ 2:34 pm
yup mine decreased over 200
Comment by Pirocho Piro — June 11, 2010 @ 2:40 pm
I've also noticed a "lag" in the insights where the number of weekly active fans doesn't appear to equate to what actually happened on the wall. It would be nice for Facebook to be a little more transparent with what's happening, especially when they're encouraging businesses to invest so much time and effort on their Page presence.
Comment by Peter Fletcher — June 11, 2010 @ 2:43 pm
Is that bug also why many games seem to be losing users since about 3 weeks ago?
Comment by Tadhg Kelly — June 11, 2010 @ 2:43 pm
I'm so happy to hear this…our page has lost a dozen or two at most, but that's because we're a small page…but it made it seem much more real! Losing 400 would definitely clue you in to something being wrong.
Comment by Teddy M Otero IV — June 11, 2010 @ 2:45 pm
We have a fan building campaign running right now so I have only seen an overall increase. But I have noticed that my "x Friends Like This" count has stayed the same, despite many of my friends "Like"ing my page this week. So something is definitely wonky.
Comment by Alison Brandt — June 11, 2010 @ 2:51 pm
This has been going on for months. FB software engineers are incompetent.
Comment by Guest — June 11, 2010 @ 3:48 pm
WE've seen several pages hidding all fans !
Our best guess is that it is a privacy flaw
(i.e.) Some FB users don't want to apear as fans anymore
Check that out !
Comment by Justin — June 11, 2010 @ 4:55 pm
We we were losing thousands and had no idea what was up. That's a relief. Thanks for posting…
Comment by Ron Samuelson — June 11, 2010 @ 5:40 pm
My comic strip's Facebook page dropped over 100 fans BUT when I look at See All, I manually count about 160 more fans than Facebook is recording!!!
Comment by David Jones — June 11, 2010 @ 7:03 pm
It looks like this may have been fixed. I run a fan page that seemingly lost several people, and they all came back (and more) tonight.
Comment by Kevin Dando — June 11, 2010 @ 8:20 pm
thanks nick for mentioning it! i wondered what happen with this and almost began searching what the f__ was going on. by now, i guess it doesn't makes sense to report it on the bug tracker.
Comment by Juan Trouilh — June 11, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
Its me. I have been "unliking" every single past that posts about how many fans they have.
Comment by Roger Fruvous — June 11, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
Its me. I have been “unliking” every single page that posts about how many fans they have.
Comment by Roger Fruvous — June 11, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
Good news if it is that. Our group of over 300,000 members has been losing members by the hundreds. It was suggested by some that it was due to FB clearing out fake profiles and spammers, but the drop has been far too abrupt and I presume FB is continuously dealng with those kinds of profiles anyway.
Comment by Richard McCarthy — June 11, 2010 @ 10:27 pm
I also noticed that the fan photos are not displayed in the external fan box anymore unless you are logged in to facebook at the same time. Temporary bug or here to stay?
Comment by Annette Schwindt — June 11, 2010 @ 11:02 pm
I left a comment about half an hour ago and now it's disappeared. Why?
Comment by Richard McCarthy — June 11, 2010 @ 11:41 pm
I noticed that fan profile pictures are no longer displayed under the fan count. I stopped seeing them a couple of days ago and it's not only on your site.
Comment by Pawe? Krakowiak — June 11, 2010 @ 11:45 pm
They fixed it, yes. Wow, now I'm somewhat comforted. I tweeted yesterday that some major fan pages are loosing fans in a dramatic way. Our own lost about 4,500 in two days, similar to Audi, Mercedes Benz was loosing about 7,000 in the same period. But the peak was reached 7 hrs before.
We lost 4-5 fans per minute, Mercedes Benz 11, Coke 28, Red Bull 48 and Starbucks lost more than 100 fans per minute. You just couldn't reload their FB page fast enough to follow the fan counts decreasing.
But now, all of them are back again – at least it seems so
. Let's see if FB will comment it. (thx @zaibatsu for your support)
Comment by Tino Kuehnel — June 12, 2010 @ 12:03 am
Has anyone with a small enough group noticed if it is only the numbers going down, or if names are disappearing too?
Comment by deborah — June 12, 2010 @ 12:15 am
They fixed it, yes. Wow, now I'm somewhat comforted. I tweeted yesterday that some major fan pages are loosing fans in a dramatic way. Our own lost about 4,500 in two days, similar to Audi, Mercedes Benz was loosing about 7,000 in the same period. But the peak was reached 11 hrs before.
We lost 4-5 fans per minute, Mercedes Benz 11, Coke 28, Red Bull 48 and Starbucks lost more than 100 fans per minute. You just couldn't reload their FB page fast enough to follow the fan counts decreasing.
But now, all of them are back again – at least it seems so
. Let's see if FB will comment it. (thx @zaibatsu for your support)
Comment by Tino Kuehnel — June 12, 2010 @ 2:30 am
It hasn't been fixed for our group.
Comment by Richard McCarthy — June 12, 2010 @ 2:38 am
yeah it hasnt been fixed yet my page went from having almost 15600 "likes" to 15290
i was about to start paying for advertising to maybe reach out to more fans but if other people are experiencing it as well then i guess i dont have to worry too much but i feel that i am not connecting with the fans ( i manage a musicians page which has a really active fan base :/)
i hope they fix it quick
Comment by NoahI — June 12, 2010 @ 3:59 am
I observed a few hours ago that one of my pages had lost about 200, are now all right again.
Comment by Agustín Bella — June 12, 2010 @ 7:01 am
Like I said, this has been going on for months. It's NOT NEW. Anyone who's a group admin with a small group would have noticed this like I did months ago, and reported it. But like I said, FB engineers are stupid, and never respond to bug reports anymore. THEY ARE IDIOTS and have fubared their site with all the stupid crap "improvements" they've made, especially those stupid redundant community pages.
Comment by Guest — June 12, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
Thank god! One of our clients fan pages has dropped by at least 1200 fans, but the insights page was showing my usual fan count.
Comment by Mike Watkins — June 13, 2010 @ 7:01 am
We have the same problem mentioned by Pawe? Krakowiak above.
The fan profile photos are no longer displayed in our Facebook Like box. I have seen many posts complaining of this problem.
Comment by Anthoin — June 13, 2010 @ 11:28 am
Mine has been gone most of all day. Now I am just getting a white page when I try…I did get in for just a minute and my wall was totally empty!! Could not write on it either. Plese get it fixed!!
Comment by Bonnie Airhart — June 13, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
Is there now an issue with fans liking/commenting directly under pictures. Fans now need to maximize the picture to post a comment/like or share. this is also hurting pages.
Is anyone else seeing the same problem??
Dave
Comment by David Abbott — June 13, 2010 @ 11:10 pm
That was really frightening. The problem is: we are all at facebook’s mercy. There’s not much you can do. Good they gave feedback to you guys, though!
Comment by Christoph Riebling — June 14, 2010 @ 4:19 am
ahhh thank you this post was so helpful!
Comment by Veronica Reynolds — June 15, 2010 @ 6:52 pm
i experienced the same issue with my page(s). I lost about 200 likes. Thanks for this Nick
Comment by Sachith Perera — June 26, 2010 @ 5:20 am
Thanks for the update Nick. Until last week, My fan page was growing about 500 fans a day and now has decreased to 30-40 fans a day. Any advice? Please keep me posted on any news.
Comment by Brad Garfield — June 28, 2010 @ 9:38 am
Is this problem why my Member count has disappeared off my Group sites? I find the feature very helpful in monitoring my pages, but then it suddenly disappears, unannounced??? I just love the way these guys do business. And asking for Help or posting a question? I can't figure that out, either, for the life of me. Thanks for being here, allowing me to vent! I take it I'm not alone in having lost my Member count, in any case?
Comment by Jeff Smith — June 30, 2010 @ 10:47 am
you said on June 11, 2010 -
"Additionally, as some have noted in the comments, Facebook appears to have fixed the bug for Pages since last night."
It is now Aug 03, 2010 and the problem persists. My page fan count does not reflect reality.
Comment by Greg H — August 3, 2010 @ 3:30 am
"I have a problem in FB like button that seems very frustrating. I have hundred/s or ten/s FB likes in most of my pages since last night but now are all gone. When I tried to like of the pages I got this error. "Be the first of your friends to like this. · Error" What's the problem with this application?
Comment by Frederick Gella — August 4, 2010 @ 10:35 am
Well yesterday i kind hv a problem with the facebook button, my sis upload some new photos, in mby 60 sec. appears in his facebook profile page that i like his photos, that would seems normal, but i was offline n i was sit next to her when i see it! 1 i thought someone broke into my profile, it was impossible, cause i never gave my password, i have a strong password very strong indeed n my password wasnt modificated by the security question. How could this happen?In same day my sis went to see a video that share in my facebook page and she clicked in like button, then she exit the page, n renter again the like disappeared she do that several time n happens again in that video! Facebook like Button is full of BUGS and we dont even hv a link to reported the problem they dont even answer!
Comment by Sol — August 16, 2010 @ 4:42 am
Is anyone getting this problem again now with the like button count reduced?
Comment by Aime — August 27, 2010 @ 1:08 am
My comic strip Just Say Cheese has added 40 new fans in the last week and the count has read the exact same number, 1,286 the entire time. It will rise to as much as 1,292 but it falls right back to 1,286. This really stinks because it has me thinking maybe people are dropping as fast as they are adding! I wish Facebook would be more open and actually answer our questions and problems.
Comment by David Jones — August 27, 2010 @ 5:15 pm
Yes. I've added 40 fans for my comic strip Just Say Cheese in the last week and my count remains at 1,286. It will rise up to as much as 1,292 and then fall right back. I see the new fans when I view as the admin. What's up? When will we get an accurate reading?
Comment by David Jones — August 27, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
I have a new bug to tell you: I manage a community page and I have notices that when a Facebook friends of mine (I mean a friend of my personal profile, as the administrator of the community page) makes a "like" on the community page I administer, the community page counter of "XXX Friends Like This" does not increase!
Any idea why such counter does not work? It it happening to you, too?
Comment by Marco Tullio Rossi — September 10, 2010 @ 2:21 pm
Looks like it's back! i just put up a website and added the Like button and got 50 people i know to add it. within the span of an hour all of the "Likes" disappeared! I really wanted to be able to use it to show potential publishers there is interest in a book I made, but now it seems pointless.
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Pingback by 6 Surefire Ways To Piss Off Facebook Fans — December 14, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
my page is having only 4 fans in those 3 went of in two days…. i liked my own page even i was unfanned and it is showing the like button when i visit
Comment by sri — January 28, 2011 @ 11:11 am
The same bag is back it seems. My fan page had a huge decrease of 300 fans on 16th of December 2010, and thereafter it's acting weiredly and errnously. The fan list shows that it adds around 20-30 fans a day. But the total fan count shows 4 or 5. Or sometimes it shows lesser than it was. There is no sign of unsubscribed fans. I noticed over a month but still the same bug persists. Since 16th December there have been over 500 fans added. But it only shows around 150 fans increased.
Please help me. This bug eats up my fans…!!!!
Comment by Sally — February 1, 2011 @ 7:42 am
same thing happens to mine also.
Comment by Sally — February 1, 2011 @ 7:43 am
Yes its been happening to me since 16th December 2010. This bug is eating up my fans.
Comment by sally — February 1, 2011 @ 7:44 am
Same thing happen to me — till today. Everyday, I got e-mail notification saying so and so FANNed me, but the FAN number is not going up, but going down. This happened when we switch to new FB. mcleodhandcraftgifts
Comment by mcleodhandcraftgifts — February 26, 2011 @ 2:36 pm
I'm starting to see this now, we add fans, and between a few hours everyday we lose them all! I know that one does require new and engaging content to keep this going, but this is ridiculous!
I'm also thinking that they are starting to investigate some accounts for being fakes. My page has a lot from South East Asia and there are reports of certain countries having fake accounts to help "fan farm" for pages. I don't friend farm, but sure hope Facebook doesn't think I do!
Comment by Gabe — April 8, 2011 @ 1:59 am
Any new about the bug. Our base decreased for 15k. What happened?
Comment by Jo Cocker — May 17, 2011 @ 10:32 am
Is this still due to a bug?
Approx 80 of my Facebook likes disappeared yesterday.
(On a site with a Fb button — not on a facebook.com site )
Comment by John — August 1, 2011 @ 11:04 am
It's happening now too (1 Aug 2011)
Comment by Yacoub — August 1, 2011 @ 5:12 pm
is there any fix to this? this bug is constantly affecting my page, very frustrating! would appreciate if anybody could help me out!!!
Comment by Eoin K — August 20, 2011 @ 1:49 pm
Thanks for sharing this information. We just experienced the same problem and were wondering why?
Comment by All Boat Info — September 29, 2011 @ 12:23 pm