The following is based on recent feedback from my personal, business, and client-owned Facebook pages.
By now it’s no secret that Facebook, the seemingly end-all-be-all of social media, its preventing users from seeing pages. Due to whatever algorithm changes it recently put into place, account owners only see a certain number of posts each day, rather than a combination out of all their likes. Even though “liking” the page should mean an automatic update of posts. (Right? Why else would someone like a page unless they actually wanted to see what was going on?)
Instead, most likely in an attempt to get others to pay for ads or sponsored posts, they’re putting the kibosh on shared content. And page owners are feeling the effects. Hard. Despite having tens of thousands of likes, only one or two thousand are seeing each post, on average. That’s less than 3%. More likes certainly bump up a post, but not into anywhere close to a page’s actual like-ship.
Seriously, Facebook, WTF?
It’s impossible for every like to see each and every post. There simply isn’t enough newsfeed space. Or enough scrolling time to get through an entire day. Think of Twitter, where posts are seen by time, and if each person follows hundreds of accounts, it’s too difficult to see each and every post. But in what world does sharing with smallest percentage of users make sense? Paid posts only reach slightly over half of a page’s likes. Yes, you read that correctly, Facebook forces you to pay, then still doesn’t even share the post with all of your followers. When, really, the majority of them should all see it to begin with. The sponsored post should then get a boost into non-followers’ feeds.
It becomes even sketchier when a page mentions said blockade in a post, which then is shown to a large(r) audience. Coincidence? More likely there’s some sort of scanning bot that saw the insult and did its best to make nice. Only it was too little too late, and then they went immediately back to their old ways.
Ongoing Repercussions
If Facebook wants to continue offering free pages, they’re going to have to actually make them free. No tricking others into advertising. And not only sharing likes when page users voice said blockade. And especially no allowing the page to grow thousands of likes in a month, then completely cutting off its views. That’s just mean.
Keep it up, and folks will find another outlet. One that doesn’t play games with its numbers. Or its users. A completely unbiased outlet that helps give its followers the exposure they’ve earned, not try to loft that shar-ability for a paycheck.
Bethaney Wallace
Bethaney Wallace is a tea drinking, Amazon loving writer and editor. When she's not working on TSR or her personal blog, she loves reading and looking for new DIY projects.
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