Last week at a TED2019 interview, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, revealed a few big changes he’d make if he were starting it today. He wouldn’t emphasize the follower count as much and doesn’t think he would have even created the “like” feature.

For now, Dorsey is experimenting with ways to redesign twitter to shift the bias away from accounts. Already, Twitter has reduced the number of accounts an individual can follow in a day down from 1,000 to 400.

The company also debuted a prototype app, Twttr, a month ago to experiment with some of the platform’s core functionality. On Twttr, there are no engagement buttons featured under tweets. Instead, to reveal the hearts and retweet icons, you must click into the tweet itself.

Instagram is also exploring ways to reduce the emphasis on likes. An internal prototype leaked that only listed the names of individuals who liked it, not the number of likes.

Alongside the change, a note detailed, "We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only the person who shared a post will see the total number of likes it gets."

For now, that feature remains just a prototype. An Instagram spokesperson said, "We’re not testing this at the moment, but exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about."

Social media platforms are currently intrigued with ways to reduce the emphasis on likes and vanity metrics. The companies are still trying to figure out how to make it happen, but in the meantime, you can address vanity metrics internally at your company.

Vanity metrics capture satisfying numbers that make you feel good about your social media marketing efforts but don’t deliver on action.

Below are a few common vanity metrics you can evaluate (and ideas on what numbers to focus on instead).

Followers

In most companies, the only team who fixates on the number of social media followers is the social media marketing team!

To others, it’s just a number — one that doesn’t mean they visit your page or see your content. Instead, focus on engagement, primarily comments and shares.

Reach

On Facebook, all reach captures is the number of people who had one of your posts enter their screen. They could have scrolled over it without noticing it at all.

That’s why it’s better to focus on clicks, so you know people are eager to learn more. Be sure to capture link clicks, traffic driven to your website and the actions people are taking from your Facebook Page as well.

Likes

Some companies track likes as part of overall engagement, which isn’t bad! The trick is to not get too caught up with this metric.

It’s a good way to gauge what type of content is resonating with your followers but not great at delivering business results. Instead, track the number of recommendations your company is getting. That’s a “like” that can translate into new business!