Metric semantics
What each metric actually means on each platform, and why a missing metric is null, never 0.
The same metric name means different things on different platforms, and some metrics simply do not exist everywhere. This page says exactly what each field means per platform.
The one rule
A missing metric is null. It is never 0.
0 means the platform reported zero. null means the platform did not report
the value at all. If you aggregate metrics, skip null: treating it as zero
silently corrupts every average and total you compute.
Post metrics
| Metric | TikTok | |
|---|---|---|
views | Reel plays. null for images and carousels. | Video plays. Counts loops. |
likes | Likes. May be null when the author hides like counts. Check extended.likeCountsHidden. | Diggs. |
comments | Comment count. | Comment count. |
shares | Reshares. Often null (Instagram rarely exposes this). | Reliable. |
reposts | Media reposts. Exposed on few posts; usually null. | Reposts. |
saves | Saves. Exposed on some surfaces only. | Collects (favorites). |
downloads | Always null (Instagram does not expose downloads). | Downloads, when the author allows them. |
Profile metrics
| Metric | TikTok | |
|---|---|---|
followers | Followers. | Followers. |
following | Accounts followed. | Accounts followed. |
posts | Visible posts. | Visible videos. |
Comment metrics
| Metric | TikTok | |
|---|---|---|
likes | Comment likes. | Comment diggs. |
replies | Reply count. | Reply count. |
Comparing across platforms
A TikTok "view" counts loops; an Instagram reel play counts differently. Cross-platform comparisons of raw counts are approximations, not equivalences. When you must compare, label the numbers with their platform and keep the caveat visible to your users.