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Every social network throughout the web has a simple goal to achieve. It aims to retain its users as long as it can and occupy as much of their time as possible.
All of this is achieved by providing enough positive cognitive effect to ensure a balanced ratio between satisfaction and expectation. This is especially true when it comes to Facebook. Even though you can drive traffic to your website using social media, other aspects of the network are more essential.
The latest Facebook algorithm change in 2018 proved the network’s priority of meaningful content, as Mark Zuckerberg put it at the beginning of the year in a post.
With the creed of strengthening human relationships, the network goes on to identify the well-being and the happiness of its users as its first-order task.
Moreover, Zuckerberg mentions how academic research demonstrated the overall mood patterns related to the types of behavior on Facebook. It found that active behavior related to connecting with people can have a long-term impact on overall happiness and well-being. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos may not be as beneficial in the long run.
This led to the most colossal Facebook algorithm change in 2018. Here are the Facebook updates to keep in mind:
Communities over all
With the new goal of the Facebook product team being helping people have more meaningful social interactions, communities have become the algorithm’s main priority.
In February, I was invited to the Facebook Communities Summit Europe in London, where the company’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox announced the Facebook Community Leadership program.
The program awards up to 1 million dollars to five community leaders and $50,000 to 100 more to fund their ideas for ways to strengthen people’s online connections.
This comes to show how much exactly Facebook stresses the importance of creating communities and meaningful interactions. Furthermore, the product team aims to develop features that essentially enhance the social aspect of the experience in the network and decrease the commercial one.
Therefore, corporate pages will need to adopt a new pattern of behavior where the primary objective is communication. Through creating and partaking in groups, companies will manage to remain relevant in the interaction process.
Active behavior
As mentioned, active interaction is the emphasis on the latest Facebook algorithm change. In other words, comments, shares, and reactions are the main data points the algorithm uses when rating relevance. The relevance directly determines the reach a post can achieve. The higher the meaningful interaction with a post is, the better performance it has on the News Feed.
Moreover, passive consumerism is anything but encouraged by the new Facebook algorithm. This means that user behavior such as watching a video or reading content does not enhance the performance of a page. On the contrary, the lack of active indicators of user engagement lowers the reach.
Comments are the top social indicator in the latest Facebook algorithm change. But this shouldn’t fool you. Engagement bait type of publications is not encouraged either. In other words, like if you agree and tag a friend are a no way to outsmart the algorithm. Meaningful comments have a much more lasting long-term impact on the positive karma a page gains. The same goes for shares and reactions.
Followers, not likers
By now it has become apparent that organic reach will never be the same. Publications by pages receive lower and lower reach with each passing day. Even though interactions with the page may support its performance, the overall needs an extra boost.
Encouraging your audience to follow your page will directly impact the reach on their News Feed. By choosing the see first option, on the other hand, your posts will be displayed at the very beginning of the feed. If they prioritize your content as worthy of this option, Facebook will automatically consider your content relevant to them.
What’s the next Facebook algorithm change?
Social networks do tend to change their focus as time passes. There are, however, core missions that remain stable. These are the cornerstones which will allow users and creators to predict future innovations. They are also a way to foresee the next Facebook algorithm change which undoubtedly waits around the corner.
With the main emphasis of the company falling on creating meaningful interactions between people, pages will have to follow. Embracing a more humane image of an actively conversing brand, pages will need to take certain steps to remain relevant. Taking part in discussions and provoking ones will turn companies into important members of the Facebook world.
People behind the brands seem to be the future of social media. That is why encouraging people to interact with your pages is what will help you attain a high performance and user engagement.
It seems that this tendency will continue to be persistent in the upcoming years. In the age of the digital passive consumerism, this new turn of the social networks will ensure a more long-term well-being of the users. And this is what helps users form substantial relationships with brands.
