Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has declared a significant change of focus for the media giant’s news feed. In a post on his own private Facebook webpage, Zuckerberg said that less weight will be carried by articles from brands, companies and media.
Instead, the business will look to provide prominence to content that promotes “meaningful connections between individuals” such as conversations between families and friends. The changes are expected to begin emerging in consumer’s feeds over the coming weeks.
According Zuckerberg, the fluctuations are being rolled out as a result of consumer feedback to:
“Recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that people content — posts from brands, businesses and websites — is crowding from the personal moments that direct us to connect more with each other.”
He said that he believes the company has a duty towards consumer’s wellbeing. Will be that which concentrates on communities, such as those relating to sports teams or TV shows.
Zuckerberg said He expected the shift
“Today, I need to be clear: by making these adjustments, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some steps of engagement will go down. But I also anticipate the time you do spend on Facebook will be precious.”
A decline in sharing
The changes are coming as the social media is facing questions over how users could be protected from abuse. High profile cases like the woman in Ireland that has been the target of a shame page for the previous two years. The company came under criticism in spreading ‘news’.
Recent analysis has revealed that some celebrities, especially those of origin, may have tried to manipulate public opinion by posting on the site.
Another reason for the modifications is that the decline in ‘sharing’ of user’s posting content rather than sharing links. If content about the typical lives of consumers has been given more prominence, or so the theory goes, other users may be willing to share more personal information themselves.
Commenting on the changes, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO in Socialbakers, said:
“These changes also drive the usage of Live Video. It, its free and its natural has a record. Brands are still supporting while Publishers started to utilize Live Video more often. From not being ideal the barrier to go is technical, its worries. As credibility and instant drive engagement with millennials, Brands go Live in 2018 and should not restrict theircontent production.
“Another issue is cost of ads, they went up 35% in Q3/2017 alone. Changes into the algorithm shouldn’t make manufacturers and publishers seem to invest less on the contraryFacebook gives the biggest possible reach to them, on advertisements. Rather they need to benchmark their ad spend against performancethey their opponents to be certain that they are spending their budget sensibly and on the best performing content.”
Abe Smith, President EMIA in Cision, said:
“As Facebook climbs back brand articles in its calculations in favour of much more user-generated articles from friends and family, my advice into the communications and marketing community would be to spend more time in pursuit of social media coverage. Social media platformscouldspend a lot of 2018 combating with the growing reputation of the medium as a hotbed for fake news.
“On the flip side, the media is usually still regarded as a trusted, reliable supply of information. This is much more important than ever before to think about on your marketing plan that is overarching. From raising the impressions of a brand on the web to favorably impacting search optimisation tactics earned media brands, brings numerous benefits that are crucial. Use this as an opportunity to create made media and PR a priority and find out how it can work together with your own digital and marketing strategy to enhance your new reach in 2018.”
