With thousands of stories coming in from users every minute, do you ever wonder how Facebook knows which stories are the best and most interesting for each user? Last month Facebook tweaked its EdgeRank algorithm some more, adding in a new factor that will affect the way stories show up in users’ News Feeds. This new factor is Facebook’s way of improving the shelf life of older stories on News Feeds.
Facebook has recycled through many iterations of algorithms to better the News Feed experience for its users. Before, Facebook experimented with showing stories chronologically on News Feeds, but found that posts didn’t receive as much engagement—likes, comments, shares– as before. Now, Facebook will show organic posts (as in, ones that are not promoted through paid Facebook ads)–that have a lot of likes, comments or shares–at the top of users’ News Feed, no matter when they were initially posted. Facebook says that this new factor in its EdgeRank algorithm has helped it to do better in showing users stories that actually interest them.
So what does this mean for businesses on Facebook? This new factor can be a huge advantage for fan pages, because now they have an opportunity to extend the shelf life of their stories for better visibility on their fans’ NewsFeeds. The goals of marketing on Facebook haven’t changed– you still need to strive to be posting interesting, compelling or useful information for your fans. But now you won’t have to worry as much about when you’re posting, because the life of your post is dependent on your content.
The bottom line? Keep posting great content for your fans, and Facebook will, hopefully, reward you for the hard work.
