replace do not work even with inplace=True
Without setting the regex flag to True, replace will look for an exact match.
To get a partial match, just use df.likes = df.likes.replace(' others', '', regex=True).
Replace function failed to work even with inplace=True.
data:

0      245778 others
  1      245778 others
  2      245778 others
  4      245778 others

code:
df.likes=df.likes.astype('str')
df.likes.replace('others','',inplace=True)
Result:

0      245778 others
  1      245778 others
  2      245778 others
  4      245778 others

Expected Result:

0      245778 
  1      245778 
  2      245778 
  4      245778