I agree that number is still a good number to track, but it just isn't what it appears to be. Sure, Facebook spells it out in their docs, but most people won't

I agree that number is still a good number to track, but it just isn't what it appears to be. Sure, Facebook spells it out in their docs, but most people won't ever see that documentation. The fact that the number appears next to the word "like" implies that it is the number of "likes."