Following count is the other half of a profile's audience picture: not how many people listen, but how many the account listens to. Metrika returns it for public Instagram, TikTok, and X accounts, in the same call and the same response shape as every other datapoint.
Why following counts are useful
On its own, a following count is a minor number. Paired with the follower count it becomes a ratio, and the ratio is what people actually use.
Agencies and marketplaces vetting creators lean on it as a first filter: an account with a large audience that follows very few others looks different from one following tens of thousands while being followed by a few hundred. It is a heuristic rather than a verdict, and plenty of legitimate accounts sit at both extremes, but as a cheap first pass over a long list of candidates it is hard to beat.
It is also a useful shape signal over time. Follower growth alone does not tell you much about how an account is growing; follower growth alongside following growth tells you rather more.
What you get back
Following comes back under metrics, next to followers, so a
single request gives you both sides of the ratio:
{
"data": [
{
"platform": "instagram",
"identifier": "natgeo",
"status": "available",
"metrics": {
"followers": { "value": 284000000, "status": "available" },
"following": { "value": 143, "status": "available" }
}
}
]
}Datapoint coverage varies by platform and grows over time. The docs list what is currently available for each one.
The same call you already make
Following count is not a separate endpoint or a different request. It arrives with everything else Metrika holds for the account, so if you are already pulling follower counts, you are already getting this.
Getting started
Create a free account, generate an API key from your dashboard, and you can make up to 500 API requests per month at no cost, no credit card required. The docs cover authentication and response formats.
Get started with Metrika
Create a free account and start pulling social media datapoints in minutes. The free tier includes 500 requests per month, no credit card required.