01/15/2018
What Facebook’s New Algorithm Could Mean for Marketers and Media
If you don’t live under a rock you’ve probably already heard about Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook will be introducing (mandating?) a new algorithm for its News Feed element. The new algorithm is designed to prioritize “meaningful social interactions” over “relevant content” to help ensure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent. This comes on the heels of several studies and former Facebook insiders speaking out about social media’s addictive nature and the fact that passive consumption of social media can be detrimental to users’ mental health (Facebook acknowledged this for the first time in December), with some studies suggesting that it’s linked to anxiety, depression and poor sleep among young people.
These statistics seem it be in direct alignment with a comment made by former Facebook employee Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network) a few years ago in which he stated that Facebook is engineered to induce a dopamine hit to keep people hooked! And research seems to back that claim up with recent statistics indicating that the average person spends 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram.
But now Facebook wants to take a kinder, gentler approach by de-prioritizing videos, photos, and posts shared by businesses and media outlets, which no doubt has ad agencies, public relations/marketing communications firms (MarComms), digital content developers and social media specialty firms, scrambling to figure out their next move. The “new” prioritized News Feed on Facebook will also significantly impact media outlets who have come to rely heavily on users of the social network as a source for (and “sharing” of) news and entertainment.
In his post, Zuckerberg stated that “video and other public content have exploded on Facebook….” to the extent that some feel it is “crowding out” updates from friends and family. He neglected to mention Facebook’s direct involvement in that explosion. He must have forgotten about the claims that Facebook is not a publisher or media company when in fact, Facebook has paid media outlets producing videos for the site. The new move (prioritizing News Feeds) will likely have a significant impact on marketers as pay-for-play corporate sponsors and advertisers may very well soon be playing catch-up at an “away game” in an all new ballpark.
Some experts are predicting significant increases in ad costs for placing material on the network in addition to a significant decline in what (barely) remains of “organic” posts being seen, “liked” and “shared.” Add to that the already disappointing visibility that businesses and/or sponsored pages see in traffic, most often measured in followers, likes, etc., and we are now looking at a perfect storm that could ultimately lead to a sink or swim mentality among those who have relied so heavily on social media for the last several years.
With various marketing companies (ad agencies, PR firms, MarComms, and Social Media/Digital Media Content Producers) all vying for the almighty and elusive marketing dollar, it may force these companies to up their game by creating more engaging, entertaining and informative content AND increasing their sponsorship/ad spending and by putting significantly more money behind their SEO partners to get their brand messages seen by target audiences and then praying for the conversions they so desperately seek.
Russell Cheek is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of RCM Broadcast Communications, a broadcast PR, marketing, video production, social media content production, social and traditional media planning and buying agency. You can follow us on…. Where else…? Facebook!
We can also be seen on rcmbroadcast.com.
