What is the most ideal way to create arrays in tables?

[fleet gull]

What is the most ideal way to create a column of type array, Should I use the JSON datatype or table relationships?
And if I want to make a like system, would it be like:

$table->json("likes")->default("[]");

and have that JSON array have the IDs of the users who liked, and the length of that array be the like count.
Or make a separate table called likes that is like:

$table->bigInteger("post_id")->unsigned();
$table->bigInteger("user_id")->unsigned();

[twin ridge]

This is a "How should I build my app?" question which is up to you to figure out. Based on this and your other question it seems like you aren't an experienced developer.

Work your way through http://laravelfromscratch.com/ or a similar tutorial and you will have better questions

Also read the entire documentation so you know what is possible and suggested

[solar mirage]

You should have a separate table, instead of trying to smash multiple rows into a JSON or array column.