Posts made on a Facebook Page will not be seen by all users who follow it. Normally, they are only shown to a small percentage of followers, which is why it is important to understand how the algorithm used by Facebook to order the publications on the users’ timeline works.
The Facebook algorithm constantly changes to order the content it shows to each user
The social network estimates that each time a user connects to their profile, they could find an average of 1,500 new content published by their friends and by the companies, institutions, media… that they follow.
It would be impossible for you to consume all of them, so Facebook assumes the role of “ordering” them so that those that might interest you the most are shown first. It is not that some content does not appear, in fact all of it is displayed, but those that are ordered in the lowest positions may never be seen by users if they do not scroll enough.
In addition to “helping” users to easily find content that is relevant to them and not to miss out on content that might be of interest to them, even if it was published days ago, Facebook also improves its usage statistics with this selection. By showing “what the user wants” the number of interactions and the time spent on the platform increase… which means that the company can also increase its advertising revenue.
In any case, it must be recognized that if all the news that the social network manages for each user were not classified and the contents were displayed in chronological order, many interesting publications would be buried under a barrage of new updates. That, in the long run, would mean a decrease in the number of stories that users read.
What variables does the Facebook algorithm take into account?
What does Facebook take into account to carry out this “curation” of content? Its algorithm considers numerous variables and, furthermore, it does not follow the same criteria for all users, but the selection is personalized and improves with the use they make of the platform. For example, when a user “likes” content, they are acknowledging that this type of content is relevant to them and, in principle, they might be interested in seeing more similar posts or more posts from the person or brand that shared it. . On the contrary, if he hides information, he is showing that he has no interest in these types of updates.
Every time a user enters Facebook, the algorithm rearranges the posts that it will show them, giving each one a score. Thus, the best valued will be those that are shown first. Initially, these are the variables that the algorithm considers based on the indications provided by users:
– The frequency with which you interact with the page: the number of times you visit it, that you “like” or grant another reaction to its contents, that you comment on it, that you share it…
– The number of interactions a particular post receives, both from the people you’re connected to and from the general public on Facebook.
– The number of interactions with these types of posts in the past.
The core values in the Facebook algorithm
In addition to these “general” considerations regarding user behavior, Facebook is constantly making changes to its algorithm to improve the way it orders the content it displays. It is necessary to be very attentive to these developments and adapt the strategy. However, it must be recognized that many of these new variables clearly harm corporate pages. In fact, in recent years they have seen how the reach of their publications has dropped sharply and their managers have to resort to payment options to make their content more visible on the platform.
The reason for this situation can be found in a change that Facebook introduced in the summer of 2016. Since then, in addition to taking into account the likes and actions of users, other fixed variables have also come into play. For example, posts made by friends and family are given more value than those shared by Company Pages, based on a number of overriding values. What are those core values that Facebook is referring to?
– Friends and family first. Posts from contacts will have a higher score from the algorithm.
– A platform for all ideas. Posts that have more interactions will be valued more.
– Actual communication. They will better position the contents that generate more conversation.
– You control your experience. What users indicate that they want to see or not will also be taken into account by the algorithm.
– Constant iteration. That is, the algorithm will be constantly improving.
Facebook Algorithm Changes
For a few years now, Facebook has done nothing more than change its algorithm and include new insights and variables in the way in which it orders the update feed of each user. For example, on the first anniversary of the official arrival of reactions (the “I love it”, “I’m sad”, “I’m surprised” buttons) in February 2017, Facebook confirmed that the algorithm was starting to consider reactions more relevant. posts that garnered a reaction than those that registered a simple “like”.
Of course, the social network does not take into account whether the reaction selected by the user is positive (for example, “I love it”) or negative (“it makes me sad”) but, for the moment, it values all emotions equally. when considering them for positioning.
Many of the modifications that Facebook has recently introduced in its algorithm have to do with the proliferation of false news (fake news) and its fight against clickbait, penalizing the search for the easy click with sensationalist or misleading headlines. In this sense, the social network values the quality of a page, and if it considers it low, it shows its publications considerably less.
How Facebook measures the quality of a Page
How does Facebook measure the quality of a page? First of all, consider a technical aspect: the loading time of the web, giving more importance to the mobile version[4]something that Google also does when ordering the results it returns when an Internet search is carried out.
The social network analyzes the device used by the user, as well as their Internet connection, and organizes the chronology so that the links that lead to content that would take little time to load appear earlier. For example, if the user is in an area with poor connectivity or low coverage, they may be shown fewer videos in the first place.
On the other hand, the algorithm values that the headlines of the publications that are shared reflect what the user will find inside the content. Thus, it expressly condemns the pages that cause disappointment and requests both companies and the media to use titles that meet expectations and not encourage the so-called clickbait with texts like “You won’t believe what happened next.”
But in addition, Facebook attaches great importance to the quality of what is shared. Since May 2017, the company penalizes the publication of low-quality links that lead to web pages that offer very little content or too many advertising formats, which it considers spam.
The Facebook algorithm for images and videos
These measures not only affect publications with links but also audiovisual elements (photos on Facebook and videos). In this sense, since the beginning of 2017, Facebook takes into account the percentage of completion of the videos and considers that the longer a video has been viewed, the more relevant it is for users.
In addition, it also penalizes those pages that publish photographs with a false “play” icon, pretending that they are videos, and also those that carry out false live broadcasts. This is something that many companies used to launch animated polls and ask users to comment on a topic by choosing a reaction: “I love it”, “it makes me sad”, etc.
Along the same lines, the company also registered another change in the algorithm in December 2017 and began to penalize the publications of companies that expressly request the “like” of the users. Also that they publish the same viral videos over and over again just because many users share them. According to Facebook, this is a practice that some pages follow to gain reach, but it increases the number of times users mark content as “irrelevant” or “spam.”
