What are interactions on Instagram?
In short
Interactions is Instagram's total of the actions taken on a post — likes, comments, saves and shares added together into one count.
It is the numerator of every engagement rate, and the one number that sums the private actions (saves, shares) with the public ones (likes, comments). That is why an interactions count from your own insights is always at least as large as what anyone can count from outside.
On its own it grows with reach, so a big number mostly tells you the post was shown to a lot of people. Divide it by reach to get something you can compare between posts — see engagement rate.
Stories report interactions too, alongside replies, shares and profile visits.
Is higher better?
Higher is better
More action on the post — but as a rate against reach, not as a raw count.
Where to find it
Open the post and tap View insights under it. You need a professional (Business or Creator) account. Account-wide interactions are under Account insights.
Go further
Questions people ask
Do saves count as interactions on Instagram?
Yes. Interactions adds likes, comments, saves and shares, so it includes the two actions nobody outside your account can see.
Related metrics
- Engagement rateEngagement rate is a post's interactions divided by an audience size — and it should be reach, the people who actually saw the post, not your follower count.
- SavesSaves is the number of times people bookmarked your post or reel to their saved collection — an intention to come back to it.
- SharesShares is the number of times your post, reel or story was sent on by someone — to a friend in a message, or onto their own story.
Sources
- Meta — Instagram Media insights reference — Metric names and definitions for posts, reels and stories
- Meta — Instagram User insights reference — Account-level metrics