Facebook Newsfeed update: game changer for companies
Mark Zuckerberg announced that our Facebook Newsfeed is changing:
Facebook Newsfeed adaptations
In the next months Facebook will update our Newsfeed to make sure that posts of friends & family get a higher priority than those of companies. Facebook will try to predict on which posts of friends we are likely to respond. These kind of posts will appear higher in our newsfeed to stimulate conversations on Facebook, like for example a post in which a friend is asking who has relevant travel tips for a certain destination.
Consequences for Facebook Pages & Companies
Because of this update Facebook will favor posts of friends and relatives, and posts that lead to discussions. This mean that we will see less ‘public’ content in our newsfeed like video’s and other posts from companies and publishers. In other words: chances are likely that pages will see a drop in organic reach. Facebook however says this will vary from Facebook Page to Facebook Page, depending on the type of posts and how people respond to them. This is not new, but I do think that qualitative content will be more important than ever. The biggest victims of this Facebook Newsfeed update? Facebook Pages that posts content without receiving reactions from people. These Pages will see the biggest drop. Pages that generate conversations between friends will feel less impact on their results according to Facebook.
Focus on conversations
Facebook clearly indicates that Facebook Page posts that stimulate conversations will appear higher in the Facebook Newsfeed, like for example live video’s on which the viewers start to discuss. Live video’s get 6 times more interactions than regular video’s. In case you didn’t start to use Facebook Live Video I recommend you to consider to add this to your content plan as soon as possible. Be aware that using tricks can be dangerous. Facebook continue it’s battle against engagement bait.
Should we panic?
This Facebook Newsfeed update doesn’t scare me (yet). Like always Facebook stays pretty vague about their Newsfeed algorithm. It’s not new that companies need to focus on interactions to get organic reach. That’s already the case for a while. Qualitative posts will keep on showing up. Companies that keep on using Facebook as a commercial channel to just promote products will get a higher punishment. In that sense Facebook is looking more and more like Google. Companies need to put more thought into what really interests their fans & followers, and dialogue get’s an even more important role than it already had. But that’s what social media was always intented for, right?
Is this really ‘breaking news’? Are you going to take action? Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in a comment 😉
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