Last week, Facebook announced another update to posts in the newsfeed, but this one is sure to make Facebook users very happy.
But let’s go back a little bit to explain how the newsfeed has worked thus far.
Way back in the earlier days of Facebook, users would see ALL posts from every friend and liked page. But Facebook noticed that the newsfeed was getting too big to keep up with, as users had thousands of friends and tens of thousands of pages they’d liked.
In order to help users manage these posts, Facebook came up with several algorithmic changes to the newsfeed to bring content that was likely more interesting. This meant that Facebook users began to see:
- Most popular posts first
- Posts friends commented on and liked, no matter when the post was originally published
- Posts from friends and pages they engaged with the most
However, a problem arose with this method as well. People began seeing really old posts at the top of their newsfeed that were suddenly liked by friends. These posts were often not timely or, in some cases, very outdated.
This latest update from Facebook promises to bring us more timely posts that are highly engaged with immediately after they are released, to bring Facebook users the most relevant information right away.
With this newsfeed update, you will more likely see breaking news posts immediately after they are published, not a day or two later as has happened in recent months.
How will this affect your Facebook page?
As this update will be rolled out slowly and will likely have a few kinks in it, Facebook simply encourages page owners to keep posted good, relevant, helpful content that resonates with your page fans. However, timely posts will become more important. So latest news stories, such as a new FDA approval for Botox or a new pain management option for plastic surgery patients will likely rank higher in the Facebook feed. The team here at TSS is brainstorming now to help make sure our clients will have more of the newsworthy, timely posts in their newsfeeds, so keep an eye out for an announcement from us regarding this update to your content mix.
Read more about this update on the Facebook blog.
