Throughout 2017, many Facebook users have noticed and complained that their news feed was being flooded with public content from publishers or companies, drowning out status updates and posts from friends and family. As a result, Facebook has seen a decline in interaction among users and an uptick in passive scrolling and usage – an issue to which CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has shifted his attention. In a recent Facebook post from Zuckerberg in early January, he explained “one of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent.” Accompanying Zuckerberg’s post was an article from Facebook’s Head of News Feed explaining the updates that will occur over the next few months. The major changes coming in 2018 are focused on going back to the core values and purpose of Facebook: connecting new users, strengthening existing relationships, and encouraging social interactions.
In this blog, we will highlight the key takeaways from this announcement and what to keep in mind for future organic Facebook efforts.
Recommended: Shift Posts to Facilitate More 2-Way Dialogues Between People
Based on the new Facebook algorithm explained in the official announcement, posts that spark the greatest amount of discussion and shares will be rewarded and placed higher in the feed. You can expect your referral traffic and post reach to decrease as Facebook will show less public content, especially if you have a small amount of followers. To stay ahead of the algorithm game, start developing and planning meaningful, engagement-based content in the next few weeks such as live videos. It is crucial to not write posts with “engagement bait” as the algorithm will pick up on the copy and demote the posts in the News Feed.
People Who Want to See Posts from Your Business or Organization Can Choose “See First” in “News Feed Preferences”
Users who want to see posts from your Page must voluntarily opt-in. Once they update their preferences, they will see all the posts in their feed.
Facebook Advertising Will Eventually be Affected in Big Ways
As the death of boring organic content is on the horizon, businesses will have to spend more money on paid Facebook advertisements to get their brand and content in front of their target audience. With the influx of advertising dollars, this can significantly increase ad competition.
Organic content on Facebook has been forever changed. Publishers and businesses are now forced to focus less on likes and tags and more on organically facilitating conversations. To sum up the first installment of what will be a long-term social platform transition, Zuckerberg stated, “at its best, Facebook has always been about personal connections.”
