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Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#41

Post by bemmu »

dchuk wrote: post #6

This is how Facebook operates. Open up the platform until everyone piles on and basically ruins it, then tighten it back up and start charging those same people to do what they were previously doing for free. They did it with games (they became basically spam until they locked it down). Then when they opened things up to advertising, you could basically run any ad you want to any offer you want. Then they tightened t…

I think of this as their "killing you softly method". If they want to discourage some activity, they don't just kill it outright, instead just slowly turn down the dial on some virality-affecting coefficient.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#42

Post by staticelf »

sharkweek wrote: post #18

As someone who runs a niche news site, it's hard to see the point focusing on running a Facebook page anymore. We kind of go through the motions to keep up with appearances, but Facebook is less than 5% of our total overall traffic, and 95% of that portion is all from individuals sharing our content, not from our page directly. It's just impossible to "bid" on traffic via Facebook and win out over companies that have…

I help run a site that is completely dependent on links from large facebook pages/groups. Basically because it's almost 100% clickbait with some classic buzzfeed-kind of crap.

This change has potential to bring the income way down from that site.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#43

Post by Jaruzel »

sharkweek wrote: post #18

As someone who runs a niche news site, it's hard to see the point focusing on running a Facebook page anymore. We kind of go through the motions to keep up with appearances, but Facebook is less than 5% of our total overall traffic, and 95% of that portion is all from individuals sharing our content, not from our page directly. It's just impossible to "bid" on traffic via Facebook and win out over companies that have…

I can second this statement. I run three small webshops, and have found that advertising or page promotion on FB rarely yields any conversions. If you can't afford the big bucks on FB advert placement, you'll always lose out to the big brands. Google Adwords is exactly the same, especially around the holiday season.

Globalisation in the main is a good thing, but what it has also done is push the smaller retailer out of the market.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#44

Post by Jaruzel »

jacobush wrote: post #33
tyfon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted my FB account several years ago and you'd be surprised how many actually find my email when they want to invite me for something. If someone can't be bothered to send me an email I'm not too concerned about going to their party.

They (FB) prey on us with perceived or actual low enough social standing for us to not be found by email.

My email address is so obvious, in fact you can even work it out from my user id, however that still doesn't stop my so-called 'friends' telling me they didn't know how to contact me during my FB detox periods. Some people just don't want the friction that having to actually send an email, brings. Go figure.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#45

Post by pantalaimon »

tyfon wrote: post #22
itchyouch wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's it. I use it purely for answering invitations to events and a handy address book. Otherwise my social media time is away from FB, though, I still spend time on FB in the form of Instagram.

I deleted my FB account several years ago and you'd be surprised how many actually find my email when they want to invite me for something. If someone can't be bothered to send me an email I'm not too concerned about going to their party.

I don't view going to parties as a chore, I actually enjoy them - so I don't want to miss out. It's nice to see what events your friends are interested in too.

And for spontaneous events (wanna hang out in the park this afternoon?), facebook group chat is still the common denominator, although that might change with facebook forcing people to install their messenger in order to being able to use it on mobile.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#46

Post by mrweasel »

sharkweek wrote: post #18

As someone who runs a niche news site, it's hard to see the point focusing on running a Facebook page anymore. We kind of go through the motions to keep up with appearances, but Facebook is less than 5% of our total overall traffic, and 95% of that portion is all from individuals sharing our content, not from our page directly. It's just impossible to "bid" on traffic via Facebook and win out over companies that have…

Generally speaking businesses doesn't have to be on Facebook. It was cool and all when Facebook was the new hotness, but at this point it's wasted energi.

The whole idea that "users will engage with your business via Facebook (or any other social media)" is pretty much snake oil. Facebook engages your customer if they can win a price, or they want to complain, loudly and in public. Neither of these things helps your business.

Assuming no click baiting, I would like to see an honest business that could not function, if they where not on Facebook.

The only change I would like to see in the Facebook news feed is the ability to remember that I just want everything sorted by newest first. Perhaps simply the ability to disable "curated feed". My feed is already curated, by me.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#47

Post by mrweasel »

0x0 wrote: post #28
system16 wrote: post #11

I guess they need to do something to increase engagement because - anecdotally, yes - the amount of sharing and engagement in my feed has dropped dramatically in recent years. A rough guess would be ~3/4 of the content I see now are just likes/reactions and comments my friends made on other content (usually articles or memes). I'm sure most of my friends have no idea I'm seeing this, and if they did they would probab…

I found I get a much more interesting "news feed" in the iOS app by searching for "Posts by my friends". Gives you a long scroll view with none of the Pages fluff.

That should be an option on the website as well. I don't care about people comment, shared or re-shared stuff. I just want to see the things my friends post directly. I guess it not really something that Facebook can turn a profit on.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#48

Post by stdbrouw »

mrweasel wrote: post #46
sharkweek wrote: post #18

As someone who runs a niche news site, it's hard to see the point focusing on running a Facebook page anymore. We kind of go through the motions to keep up with appearances, but Facebook is less than 5% of our total overall traffic, and 95% of that portion is all from individuals sharing our content, not from our page directly. It's just impossible to "bid" on traffic via Facebook and win out over companies that have…

Generally speaking businesses doesn't have to be on Facebook. It was cool and all when Facebook was the new hotness, but at this point it's wasted energi. The whole idea that "users will engage with your business via Facebook (or any other social media)" is pretty much snake oil. Facebook engages your customer if they can win a price, or they want to complain, loudly and in public. Neither of these things helps your…

Check out the Facebook pages of mom and pop stores, grocers and other local businesses in your area. Chances are you'll see a lot of interaction with loyal customers. Check out the Facebook pages of your favorite musicians, lots of interaction there too. It's not because you don't see it that it doesn't exist.

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#49

Post by raverbashing »

grenoire wrote: post #35
raverbashing wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are already getting money for ads, I don't know why you think they aren't

Free promotion in the sense that you could create a page for a product or company, and be promoted significantly solely by the likes and shares you get.

Ah yes, but those type of posts have been having their reach diminish in the past years

Re: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family

#50

Post by angry-hacker »

grenoire wrote: post #35
raverbashing wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are already getting money for ads, I don't know why you think they aren't

Free promotion in the sense that you could create a page for a product or company, and be promoted significantly solely by the likes and shares you get.

It doesn't work like that for long long time already. For small businesses / pages FB has been very difficult, if not worthless.
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