The Facebook News Feed is prime real estate and has seen many renovations through the years.
“The goal of News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you.” (Facebook Newsroom)
Liking, Commenting, Sharing and even clicking on items in your Feed are some of the factors the Facebook algorithm uses to determine what to show in each users’ Feed. However, according to Facebook, these factors do not always determine what is actually most meaningful to each individual.
As part of their effort to improve the News Feed Facebook has implemented the Feed Quality Panel. A panel of over 1,000 people who rate their experience on Facebook each day and report what would improve the content they see. Users on the panel are asked to rate content, asking “how much did you want to see this story in your News Feed?” This helps to determine how well Facebook is ranking the content that users see.
These ratings allow Facebook to understand what people are interested in even if they have not clicked the link or Liked, Commented or Shared an update and use this information to make ranking changes. The current research has also shown that reported having a better News Feed experience when the stories they see at the top are stories they are both likely to rate highly if asked and likely to engage with.“ (Facebook Newsroom)
Today, Facebook has announced they are making an update to the News Feed, combining both of these signals. The News Feed algorithm will start to look at the probability that you want to see the story as well as the likelihood you will take action on that content with a Like, Comment, Share or click.
How will this affect your Business Page?
“The impact of these changes on a story’s distribution will vary depending on the composition of your audience and posting activity. In general this update should not impact reach or referral traffic meaningfully for the majority of Pages.” (Facebook Newsroom)
However, some Pages may see an increase in traffic while others may see a decline. While it may seem logical that Page Admins begin to request engagement directly in an update, Facebook is encouraging businesses not to do this. It will only cause a “temporary spike” in the metrics and will end up being rebalanced over time.
The goal for Businesses posting content to their Page is still the same, to provide relevant, interesting and engaging content. If you are providing interesting updates, posting updates often, interacting with the Pages’ friends and keeping your Page active your updates should not see much of a decline.
Bottom line, businesses who want to use their Facebook Page as a successful marketing tool will need to step up their efforts and take extra care to monitor what the audience wants and find relevant information to post.
“Overall, Pages should continue to post things that your audience finds meaningful and continue using our Page post best practices.” (Facebook Newsroom)
Read more about the update at Facebook Newsroom.
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