Facebook has updated their algorithm in the name of friends and family, and it could have a big impact brands and company pages.
NPR’s response to Facebook’s algorithm update announcement
Just a few weeks after being accused of biasing Trending Topics in favor of liberal-leaning political news, Facebook came under scrutiny for appearing to show only one side of the Brexit debate. While these accusations can be at least somewhat disproven, they opened Facebook up to harsh criticism for a few days worth of news cycles.
No more, says the largest social media platform in the world. You want transparency, you got it: Here’s a complete list of News Feed Values, from “friends and family come first” to the not-so-subtle reminder that “you control your experience”.
“Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family. As we say in our News Feed values, that is still the driving principle of News Feed today.”
–Lars Backstrom, Facebook Engineering Director
Mashable was quick to post an article and video addressing the update
What does this mean for brands and companies? Is Facebook still a relevant platform for B2B companies in this climate? The space has been increasingly pay to play, but we’re not calling quits on this one just yet. It’s still the largest social media platform in the world with 1.65 billion users worldwide, and you’ve spent months or maybe years building up your audience. Here’s the silver lining: if individual users share your content, you can protect yourself from vanishing into the algorithmic void. Shareable content is going to become more essential than ever for brands on Facebook.
Key Takeaways:
- The Facebook algorithm was updated to prioritize updates from friends and family of the user
- All content (links, photos, videos) published by brands will be affected: the content will appear far down on the users newsfeed, if at all
- The best way to retain your reach and audience engagement is to create highly shareable content
Learn More:
- Tips from CEO Harry Gold on how to create great content here.
- A more in-depth look at the “liberal bias” case here.
- To learn why we at Overdrive have believed that the share is the most valuable KPI for a while now, click here.
