Facebook is now testing hiding "likes" in 7 countries. While they will show mutual friends who’ve "liked" a post, the total "likes" number has been removed.

This week, Fred Jacobs, President Jacobs Media, addressed the benefits of hiding "likes," and steps to real community engagement - beyond the "like."

Below is an excerpt of Fred’s piece. You can also read the full piece here.

2011 seems like a long time ago. That was the year we hired Lori Lewis as our social media strategist.

Lori's role was to help stations make sense out of social media, teach them the philosophy behind audience engagement and connection, and work with them to develop strategies behind their "socializing."

Here we are more than 9 years later, and I'm not sure we've come all that far. I talk to radio stations and the companies that own them all the time, and social continues to be something of a mystery. Or a black hole.

Broadcasters still struggle to set standards for social media activity, resources are wasted, and unknowing employees still get their companies in trouble. I need not list the examples - they are well chronicled and well known.

With great interest, I read Danielle Smith's story in The Drum - "Goodbye to likes: What should the new engagement metric be?" Smith tells us that in Australia, Instagram and Facebook are test-driving the concept of hiding "like counts" from everyone except a post's publisher.

So, how is engagement measured in a social media ecosphere where "likes" could become an endangered metric? And how should radio broadcasters think about an emerging new world of measurement?

To achieve true engagement, Smith offers a number of recommendations, a few of which I've incorporated below:

1. Focus on quality, depth and purpose - Nothing new here, but Smith reminds us that knowing and understanding your audience, and then serving up the content that matters to them is at the foundation of building a great brand. Radio operators know this - it's how the business has operated for decades. The challenge in these trying times is marshaling the necessary resources for research, producing great content, and then marketing it to the audience.
   

Twitter has rolled out a new test feature here in the U.S., along with Japan and Canada, allowing us to hide tweet replies we find irrelevant, abusive or incoherent. By clicking on the right hand menu of a comment to our tweet, you'll see options. Tap "Hide Reply" ...

Content needs to reflect what matters to the audience in order to sustain an active fan base. One way we help show the audience our relevancy; how well we fit into their lives, is by paying attention to the type of social media content they say they want flowing ...

To create meaningful impact in the social space day in, day out isn't easy - but when we put the appropriate fundamentals in play; paying attention to audience signals - what triggers reaction, and equally what does not, we get closer to growing an active fan base - ...

A new study from global media agency Wavemaker in partnership with BuzzFeed titled "Flipping the Switch on Brand Loyalty" shows brand loyalty no longer means exclusivity. As Wavemaker noted, "Gone are the days of touting product attributes." Today's brand voice needs ...

When it comes to paid posts in the social space - people literally don't care if content is organic or sponsored - what they want is discovery; selling a feeling - helping the audience imagine the look and feel of the product in their lives. But all too often paid ...

"Thank you for the inspiration and education" is how many summed up Conclave 44; radio's storied Learning Conference that played out in Minneapolis last week. It's not easy to capture the amazing vibe of what it was like to be present this year at Conclave - Conclave ...

To be a force in the social space day in, day out isn't easy - but when we put the appropriate fundamentals in play; paying attention to audience signals - what triggers reaction, and equally what does not, we get closer to growing an active fan base - building on ...

For the past decade, many brands have experienced increased awareness, interest and conversion from the social space. And for other brands - they are still asking the age-old question how to grow followers and/or engagement. It's not as easy as perhaps some perceive ...

Facebook is again tweaking the factors that influence how, when, and where our videos show up in Feed, Facebook Watch and Search. They call these factors "signals." Signals are what help Facebook predict quality content that should have higher distribution vs. not so ...