I would argue that they never really meant anything. Vanity metrics are just that - vanity. This blog post basically says "likes do not dictate reach, organic on Facebook doesn't work anymore, you need to spend to be seen." That's been the case for a long time.
Agreed, that's why I shut down a company account with 1200 Likes -- even when I paid the Facebook $10 toll, I couldn't reach the 1200 who'd already said they wanted to hear from me. It was better to stay with my Mailchimp mailing list.
(Note: the FB page I shut down was not my current or any previous employer but a side business I run on my own)
