What to expect from Facebook’s new algorithm
“One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent”. This was the opening quotation from Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg when taking took to his personal profile to announce that the social media giant would once again be changing its algorithm. Their motive? To quote Mark Zuckerberg again…
“When we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good”
(Click here for Mark Zuckerberg’s full post on the algorithm update)
In its early days, Facebook had no news feed, and no messenger. You would create your profile, connect with other profiles by posting on their wall and poke each other.
That’s about as much fun as we had on the Internet in 2004…
In 2006 we were introduced to the newsfeed, this is pretty much how we see Facebook today.
10 years later, our newsfeeds are full of updates from folks you’ve met once, work colleagues you felt obliged to accept, and people you fell out of touch with years ago. The ever expanding volume of content we see on Facebook means we’re not only scrolling more, but we’re also scrolling faster and as a result, our attention spans are decreasing day by day.
Zuckerberg insists the update to the algorithm means a return to its roots; this means more posts from close friends and family and those whose content you want to see. This move also means that people will see fewer posts from businesses and brands.
What we have gathered is that this new algorithm wants to portray honesty and transparency with its users by focussing on featured posts and content that Facebook thinks is relevant to you, re-aligning it with Facebook’s core values which they, by their own admission have veered away from in their recent past.
Those core values are as follows:
- Friends and family come first – authentic interaction is key.
- You control your experience on Facebook – that’s what options like “hide”, “unfollow”, “see first” and the new “snooze” are laid in place for.
- And finally – a constant strive to create and improve the most personalised experience for everyone on the platform.
With the core values considered Facebook then looks at who’s posting the content, and what relation it has between the publisher and the consumer. The type of content it is, e.g., photos or links and when it was posted; newer posts can be an important signal for relevance and the number of interactions, likes and comments it has or can have.
Some content will perform better than others… and this where the honesty and transparency comes into play. Posts which include positive language will generate greater interaction that those ‘click bait’, ‘forced interaction’ posts we’ve become so accustomed to seeing.
Gone are the days where you can win a trampoline by tagging your best mate and four generations of their family tree in the comments… Facebook’s motivation is now on generating interaction through your close network of friends and peers with quality content.
Examples may include:
- ‘We’re super excited to announce our new range of products” or
- “Can’t wait for our customers to see our web site revamp – head over to finnickcreative.co.uk to see what all the fuss is about”
The Facebook algorithm is ever changing and to keep on top of all the changes takes time and patience. Hopefully, though, this has highlighted few key things to look out for when posting on Facebook. It’s all about playing the game, you just have to try to learn the rules! If you want to stay in the loop, make sure you’re following us on Facebook and Twitter.
@FinnickCreative.
Looking for advice on Linkedin? Read our blog on everything you need to know about Linkedin here!!
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