It seems we just got word that News Feed was changing in Facebook when we have been hit with yet another series of changes in the visibility of posts. Business owners who are relying on Facebook to reach potential clients are already complaining about the new format and struggling to understand the changes that can impact the way social media is used in advertising a brand, company, firm or individual.
What Happened To My News Feed?
Facebook has changed its News Feed ranking algorithm once again, pushing some stories down to the bottom of the News Feed page people see when they first visit the site. This is apparently an effort to mimic some of Google’s algorithmically-based results and to reward stories that get a great number of “likes” or “shares.”
According to Facebook, testing with a small number of users showed positive results from the new changes. On average, people are reading 70 percent of their news stories with the new system rather than the old 57 percent average. This sounds like it would be a great benefit to both businesses and users alike, but it can still make things challenging when 1,500 potential stories are filtered onto the average News Feed per day.
The changes in factors such as “Last Actor” are also challenging for businesses to utilize. Facebook looks at the 50 most recent people or pages with which a user engaged on Facebook in order to show more of them in the feed, generating an organic hierarchy. The chronological version of “Last Actor” puts friends in chronological order as well. Story Bumping is now moving out to mobile, as well.
All this means that the News Feed is becoming ever-more-targeted to particular users. This is great when you are able to hone in on your market, but it could be bad news if you are not a step ahead in terms of identifying your users, their preferences and how to reach them so that they interact with your page. It is not just how recently a story came onto the feed nowadays but also how the users have responded to it.
This means that content is more important than ever in terms of social media.
Businesses Respond to Facebook’s Changes
Not everyone is enamored of the changes to Facebook. Many businesses want to keep posting the same type of information to social media almost on autopilot and continue to see results from their postings. Unfortunately, as social media algorithms continue to evolve and rely more heavily on user response, this is simply not a viable plan.
Others, however, see the wisdom in targeting a social media audience. One way to do this is to have a professional help you design your social media posts so that you take advantage of keywords that are show to improve website traffic. If you rely on experts and take your social media campaigns seriously, they can become a source of tremendous growth for your firm or business.