Share counts
How share counts work, and why most networks stopped
Quick answer
A share count is a number the network reports for a URL, not something your site measures. Facebook reports an engagement total that combines shares, reactions and comments; X removed public counts in 2015 and LinkedIn in 2018. Plugins fetch what is still available, cache it, and add the results, so counts differ between tools and are rarely exact.
On this page
Your site does not count shares
When someone shares a post, the share happens on the network. Your site never sees it. A share counter is therefore a request to each network asking how many times it has seen a given address, followed by some arithmetic. The old explainer on this domain, on how Facebook and other networks calculate share count, was widely linked because this surprises almost everyone the first time.
What Facebook's number includes
Facebook's Graph API reports engagement for a URL as separate figures: shares, reactions, comments, and comments made through its comments plugin. Many counters add some or all of these together and label the total "shares". That is why a post can show more shares in your counter than anyone remembers sharing, and why two plugins can show different numbers for the same page.
Networks that removed counts
X stopped publishing tweet counts for URLs in November 2015. LinkedIn removed its share count in 2018. Google+ closed to consumers in 2019. Pinterest has long exposed a pin count through the endpoint its own widget uses, but that endpoint is undocumented and can change. Some services estimate counts from their own data, which is a different thing from the network's figure.
Why counts disagree
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| http versus https, www versus apex | The network counts each as a different URL |
| Tracking parameters in shared links | Shares split across many URL variants |
| Changed permalinks | The count starts again at zero on the new address |
| Engagement versus shares | Totals that mix reactions and comments look inflated |
| Cache age | Counts lag real activity by hours or days |
Plugins that were careful asked for several variants of the address and added them, which recovers some of the split. After a site moves to https, counts often drop for exactly this reason.
Should you show a counter at all?
Counts work as social proof when they are high. Low numbers, or a row of zeros from networks that no longer report, do the opposite. A common compromise is to show a total only above a threshold you choose, and hide it otherwise.
Questions
Why does my share count differ from another tool's?
Tools differ in which networks they ask, which URL variants they check, whether they include reactions and comments, and how old their cache is.
Can I still get X share counts?
Not from X. Public URL counts were removed in 2015; any number shown now is an estimate from another source.
Does Facebook's share count include likes?
The engagement data separates shares, reactions and comments, but many counters add them into one total.
Hannah Voss, Editor. Checks every guide against a working WordPress install and the networks' current documentation. Last reviewed September 2026.
Related guides
- Facebook share count: getting it from the Graph APIHow to get the Facebook share count for a URL from the Graph API, why the old REST API stopped working, rate limits, and how plugins should cache the result.3 min read
- Share count not updating or not accurate: a fix listShare counts stuck, stuck at zero or wrong? Work through tokens, caches, cron, URL variants and rate limits in order, and why you should never add fake shares.3 min read
- How to create a Facebook access tokenCreate the right Facebook access token for share counts and plugins: user, page and app tokens compared, how long each lasts, and how to keep the token safe.3 min read