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Meta Reactions is the number of reactions people left on your ads, as Meta reports them in its “Post Reactions” action type.

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Formula

Meta Reactions = SUM ( post_reaction actions ) for the selected Meta accounts, campaigns, ad sets, or ads

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How it works

Meta returns engagement results as a list of action types. Upstack reads the post_reaction entry, which Meta labels “Post Reactions,” and stores it for each ad, ad set, campaign, and account per day. The metric sums those stored counts for your date range. Three Meta action types have similar names. Upstack keeps each in its own metric: Meta Likes is therefore not a subset of reactions. It is Meta’s Page Likes action, which is separate from reacting to the ad. Reactions are counted as Meta attributes them to the ad. Upstack requests results using the attribution window on your Meta connection, 7-day click and 1-day view by default.

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Worked example

A pet brand tests two video ads with the same budget for a week: The unboxing ad drew almost four times as many reactions per impression, but fewer link clicks. Reactions tell you the creative landed emotionally. They don’t tell you it sent traffic. Here the demo ad is the stronger traffic driver even though it looks weaker on reactions.

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How to interpret it

  • Normalize by impressions before comparing ads. Raw reaction counts mostly follow delivery.
  • Pair it with a traffic metric such as Meta Link Clicks or Meta Landing Page Views. High reactions with low clicks means people enjoyed the ad without wanting to visit.
  • Don’t read it as sentiment. Upstack stores one reaction count per row and doesn’t split it by reaction type. Check the ad itself in Meta if the tone matters.
  • Cost per reaction is available as Meta Cost per Reaction (spend ÷ reactions). It’s most useful when the campaign objective is engagement.

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Why it can differ from Meta Ads Manager

  • Ads Manager may show results under a different attribution setting than the one your Upstack connection requests.
  • Upstack only includes the ad accounts you’ve connected.

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FAQ

Not in the sense the names suggest. Meta Likes comes from Meta’s like action type, which Meta labels Page Likes. Reactions on the ad itself are counted here.
Divide Meta Reactions by Meta Impressions for the same ads and dates. Multiply by 1,000 for reactions per thousand impressions, which keeps small numbers readable.
Yes, but only Meta rows carry a reactions count, so Blended Reactions equals Meta Reactions for the same filters.
See all Meta metrics →