Facebook Overhauls The News Feed Policy

Facebook which initially started off as a networking tool for Harvard students by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 became a sudden hit when it was made open to public in 2006. What once had a humble start has reached billions of people today. As per statistics, there were 2.072 billion monthly active users as on January 1, 2018.

The primary purpose of Facebook was to help people connect with their friends & family. It was to be used as a tool for sharing important stuff related to one’s life with their near and dear ones. However, with time, things changed and there was more of “passive content” as Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s Chief Executive states. This includes videos and articles that are meant to simply sit back and watched or read by the user. 

Facebook, however has made certain important announcements and has decided to overhaul the news feed. In his post Mark mentioned, “At its best, Facebook has always been about personal connections. By focusing on bringing people closer together -- whether it's with family and friends, or around important moments in the world -- we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent.”

So, the users will now witness numerous change in the kind of posts that will appear on their feed. Facebook is planning to use various algorithms to highlight the content that friends and family share. This will however understate posts and advertizements from publishers and brands. The idea behind this major change is to maximize and prioritize meaningful interactions and increase utility for users. This is all being done to make Facebook purposeful. People should feel positive and optimistic after going through their feed.

However, the after effects of the news feed overhaul shall be far reaching for publishers, small venture owners & entrepreneurs who majorly rely on Facebook for marketing their product or service. They won’t be able to reach as much audience as they were earlier subjected to.

So does this mean Facebook will see fall in revenues? Definitely not. Facebook Ads would become even more popular and the change in news feed will push businesses to create “engaging” content while promoting their businesses. Both factors will contribute to increased Facebook usage. From marketeer’s point of view, the social media strategy will now focus on creating engaging posts rather than making newsfeed a billboard for business promotions.

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