likecount

LikeCount is a metric used in online social platforms to denote the total number of times a post, comment, or other content item has been liked by users. In application programming interfaces (APIs) and data schemas, likeCount is typically an integer field associated with the content object and updated when users perform a like action. The value is commonly displayed to users beside the content to indicate its popularity and can be used in analytics, ranking algorithms, and feed curation.

Data modeling: LikeCount is usually stored as a 32-bit or 64-bit unsigned integer; platforms may cache the value for performance and may recalculate asynchronously after bursts of activity. Some platforms expose likeCount along with a separate field indicating whether the acting user has liked the item.

Variations: Some services use terms such as like_count, likes, favorites, or reaction_count. In some ecosystems, a single content item aggregates multiple reaction types into a total likeCount, while others differentiate between different reactions.

Privacy and display: To reduce social pressure or avoid inflating influence, some platforms hide exact counts or threshold them (e.g., showing "1K+" or "100K"). In other cases, counts are visible only to authenticated users or within certain app contexts.

Limitations and considerations: LikeCount can be affected by bot activity, fake engagement, and platform counting policies. It may be cached, delayed, or rounded for performance and privacy reasons, leading to temporary discrepancies across clients.