Problem when try to add ++1 for user meta

The problem here is twofold:

  • the ++ operator is applied on an array.
  • the user id and the meta key need to be swapped in get_user_meta()

So use get_user_meta( $user_id, "_user_count", true ); to get user meta.

Note that the third input parameter is false by default and an array is returned. Setting it to true, returns a single value instead.