Surprise! Facebook has a new algorithm for Facebook pages. They recently published in their blog that they conducted a survey with “thousands” of people, entered the data into a number of computers (they call the “machine” and they have determined what content will be valuable to the more than 1 billion people using the platform.
Do you sense my sarcasm and cynacism? You should because this is all part of Facebook’s plan to get you and your business to pay money…not just a little…but a great deal more. The bottom line is this. Facebook will determine what posts are valuable, or I’m sorry, they call it “high quality content”, and what is not, who sees them and how many people will see them. If your posts are not valuable according to Facebook’s machine…you will not be seen on News Feeds and you will need to pay to play.
Here are some of the questions Facebook asked in their survey:
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Is this timely and relevant content?
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Is this content from a source you would trust?
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Would you share it with friends or recommend it to others?
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Is the content genuinely interesting to you or is it trying to game News Feed distribution? (e.g., asking for people to like the content)
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Would you call this a low quality post or meme?
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Would you complain about seeing this content in your News Feed
Now we are not told what the “high quality content” is or how this “machine” will evaluate the content, but we can see many problems and issues.
First, your business target market may have a complete different make up, more importantly it is has a specific make up. This algorithms are being generalized to all pages, not specifically designed for your demographic or the psychological make up of your target market.
Second, can you smell the fact that Facebook is going to make you pay if you want to be seen. This was all a part of their “bait and switch” program. They gave businesses “FREE” pages and then over time they told them in classic mafia tone, “if you want to be seen, you are going to need to pay”.
Third, note that Facebook considers asking for “likes”, “comments’, and “shares” as “gaming the system”. In marketing this is called, “call to action”. So, based on this Facebook’s blog post, if you put a post that says, “please share”…your post is going to be no longer relevant and is probably not going to be seen.
So what does Facebook suggest:
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Make your posts timely and relevant
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Build credibility and trust with your audience
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Ask yourself, “Would people share this with their friends or recommend it to others?”
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Think about, “Would my audience want to see this in their News Feeds?”
This is the most hilarious bunch of B.S. yet from Facebook. Let’s Review:
Make your posts timely and relevant…what in the name of Justin Bieber does that mean? Facebook you have just told us you are defining “high quality” content…can you give people the operational definition of “relevant content”. How are we suppose to know what is relevant if you have some mysterious algorithm that has predetermined quality content. Facebook you gave us nothing here…well done.
Build credibility and trust with your audience…LOL! Really? Would you like to define that Facebook? What is your definition of credibility and trust? How is the business suppose to know if they have it or they don’t…oh that’s right you do not define these things you just say a bunch of buzz words to make people believe you are saying something important, when in reality it is worthless rhetoric.
Ask yourself, “would people share this with their friends or recommend it to others?” Ask myself? Shouldn’t I be asking my target market? Are you kidding me? Besides what good does any of that do, you have again predetermined value…this is possibly the most worthless fill line yet from Facebook.
Finally, and I love this, “Think about, would my audience want to see this in their News Feeds”? Just think about it…really? Again, it is the Facebook “hocus pocus” or worthless things to say, to help you “feel” better about how they are going to get their hands into more pockets. More fluff without substance.
Here is what Facebook is really saying to YOU the page owner:
We are Facebook if you don’t like it go somewhere else…but where will you go…Twitter? He he!
We are going to suck as much money out of you as we can because we no longer care about you or the users on the platform. Cha-ching!
We determine value and quality and we have the right to change it if we are not making enough money.
We will continue to make up cute little phrases and buzz words to make you feel better, but in reality they are meaningless.
We will laugh at you as we make billions of dollars
Idiots and Suckers!
You will be assimilated.
Final Thoughts
Facebook is starting to become MySpace. Time to seriously consider moving. While we make fun of Google+ it is starting to look more like Shangri La every day.
Stay Successful My Friends!
Jay Izso, Internet Doctor®