As Facebook is the ‘go-to’ social network for many businesses, it is important to understand how the site works so that you can get the most out of it.
Understanding EdgeRank
Facebook’s News Feed is organised by an algorithm that determines which stories will show up in your newsfeed. To ensure the newsfeed is not completely overwhelming for users (imagine seeing every one of your friends’ activities in your newsfeed!) Facebook uses the algorithm to determine which stories will be of most interest to you and cuts out what it perceives to be junk.
Why should I care?
Because your fans won’t see your updates if they aren’t engaging and interesting! Facebook ranks stories by their score, which is determined in three parts:
- Weight
- Affinity
- Time Decay
A story (or, edge) is given Weight with comments, shares and likes. Generally comments and shares are worth more than likes. Certain content, such as photos and videos can hold more weight and thus be more visible in the newsfeed, but it depends on the type of interaction the story receives. A text post with lots of comments and likes will rank higher than a video with no comments. The lesson here is to try and make each post engaging so it can show up in your fans’ newsfeeds and spread virally to the fan’s friends’ newsfeeds.
Affinity is a one-way relationship between users which rates how ‘connected’ you are. If you post on a friend’s wall and have lots of mutual friends, etc. Facebook will assume you want to see more of that person’s posts. As it’s a one-way score, that person won’t necessarily see all your posts unless they frequently interact with you also. It is important to note that affinity scores can wane due to inactivity, so keep your fans coming back to your page!
Time Decay is pretty self-explanatory. As a story gets older, it’s score drops because it’s less relevant than something posted two minutes ago. EdgeRank is a running score and your post in competing against all the other updates for that moment in time.
As you can see, it is important to understand how Facebook’s News Feed works to make the most of your social media activity and avoid wasting time. As this can be tricky to grasp or keep up with Facebook’s constant changes, please give us a call if you need any help. You have the option to outsource your social media management or receive consultation to get you on the right track.