Why Facebook's Latest Move Could Minimize Your Brand's Reach The social-networking giant just updated its algorithm to show users more posts from their friends.
By Laura Entis
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Facebook announced yesterday that it will update its algorithm to show users more posts from their friends.
"We've learned that people are worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about," Facebook said in a statement. "For people with many connections this is particularly important, as there is a lot of content for them to see each day."
The change means that content posted by users' friends will appear higher in their News Feeds, in an attempt "to make the balance of content the right one for each individual person," Facebook said.
Related: Facebook Explains Why Organic Reach Is Dying
For brands and publishers, the move likely means that organic reach is shrinking yet again – in other words, it makes it difficult for them to reach as many Facebook users without buying ads. "The impact of these changes on your page's distribution will vary considerably depending on the composition of your audience and your posting activity. In some cases, post reach and referral traffic could potentially decline," Facebook warned in the post.
In addition to highlighting content from users' friends, Facebook also said that in future, posts about friends liking or commenting on another post will be displayed lower down in users' News Feeds, a change that also potentially hurts publishers and brands.
Lastly, the social network said that it in order to expand the length of users' News Feeds, it will allow more content from the same publisher to appear than it has before.
