Tumblr calls the collective count of likes, reblogs, and replies on a post its notes.
The term reflects Tumblr’s original emphasis on visible, cumulative conversation around a post. A note may represent someone liking the post, reblogging it to their own blog, or replying to it. As a post travels through reblogs, its notes show how widely it has circulated and how users have responded.
Notes are not exactly the same as a single popularity score. A post with many reblogs may have fewer likes, while a discussion-heavy post may accumulate replies. Tumblr’s interface groups these interactions together, which is why the number beneath a post is described as its notes.
A common mix-up is calling this total “engagement” or “reactions,” terms used by other social networks. Tumblr’s established native term is “notes.” Tumblr itself also uses the word in phrases such as “10,000 notes,” making it part of the platform’s distinctive vocabulary.