Facebook recently announced a major update to its News Feed that has gotten the immediate attention of marketers and brands. After receiving feedback from its users, the social network announced that its big focus in 2018 is making sure that the time users spend on Facebook is time well spent. They’re doing this by putting family and friends at the core of the experience.
According to Facebook, on average, 1.37 billion people are considered Facebook daily active users, which represents a 16 percent increase year over year. While the number of users continues to increase, average time spent per Facebook visit has decreased. According to SimilarWeb, the current average amount of time spent on Facebook is 35 minutes per day, which is down from 40 minutes recorded just three years ago. With time spent on the platform and engagement decreasing, Facebook is taking its users’ feedback to create more “meaningful interactions.”
To sum up the announcement, Facebook will show more posts from family and friends, rather than brands and publishers.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, explains the new update on his personal Facebook page:
“Recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content – posts from businesses, brands and media – is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.
The first changes you’ll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups.
As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard – it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
He is also very aware of some of the immediate consequences for Facebook:
“Now, I want to be clear: by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable. And if we do the right thing, I believe that will be good for our community and our business over the long term, too.”
Facebook shares immediately fell 4 percent at market open the day after it announced the major changes to its News Feed.
What does this mean for brands?
There are a few major takeaways for brands to keep in mind when creating social content for Facebook.
- Quality over quantity. We have been speaking about this for some time at Sunrise. It’s time to stop posting meaningless filler content on your social channels. Now more than ever, quality content will triumph over a high posting frequency. In fact, posting too often will only hurt your brand’s engagement. Focus on high-quality content that leads to conversation and engagement.
- Explore influencer marketing. And more specifically, micro-influencer marketing. With more focus on family and friends, there will be even more value in investing in influencers and word-of-mouth strategies.
- Avoid “engagement-bait” and “click-bait headlines.” Facebook has said that they will regulate and devalue any posts that directly ask for likes, comments, shares, tags, etc.
- Readjust your goals. Factors such as the number of reactions, comments, or shares will be less important, when it comes to Facebook’s algorithm, than the ability to create a conversation. Facebook wants to create “meaningful interactions,” rather than passive actions.
- Pay up. Paid strategies will be even more important than they already are, as organic competition only continues to increase. A good social strategy must include a paid component.
Facebook has always tweaked its News Feed algorithm from time to time, but this is a major change to which brands will have to adjust. The company hopes that these upcoming changes will encourage personal connections and bring back the social side of social media.
We’d be happy to help your brand learn more. If you want to get more specific, you can contact us here.