Were you aware about the new Explore News Feed?
Did you know that Facebook actually had two News Feeds going for you?
Facebook discovered people didn’t want two feeds.
“People don’t want two separate feeds,” said Adam Mosseri, who runs the News Feed, in a blog post. “In surveys, people told us they were less satisfied with the posts they were seeing, and having two separate feeds didn’t actually help them connect more with friends and family.”
Facebook is ending its short-lived (and misguided) experiment with the alternative news feed feature called “Explore.”
Launched last October, Facebook’s Explore feed was designed as a separate feed for content from publishers and public figures they might be interested in based their own interests. It arrived after news feed algorithm tweaks that prioritized posts from friends and family, while diminishing the organic reach of Pages.
Facebook says the separate feed connected to the rocket ship icon was a “trial response” to user feedback that they wanted to see more content from family and friends.
“To understand if people might like two separate feeds, we started a test in October 2017 in six countries,” writes Facebook, “You gave us our answer: People don’t want two separate feeds.”
In the short time the Explore Feed has been widely available, Facebook concluded it was not doing its intended job.
According to Facebook, user surveys reveal people are “less satisfied” with the posts they’re seeing, and having two feeds failed to help them better connect with friends and family. It also says users complained it was harder to access important information and that Facebook didn’t clearly communicate the fact that it was a test.
“We’re acting on this feedback by updating the way we evaluate where to test new products, and how we communicate about them,” writes Facebook in its announcement.
What This Means for Businesses with Facebook Pages
This news confirms that Facebook is satisfied with the direction they are taking and will continue with the new algorithm. For businesses dependent on Facebook traffic this means understanding how Facebook’s new algorithm works and to implement changes to adapt.
Facebook says it believes recent changes it has made to prioritize “meaningful social interactions” will help address the feedback it has received from users: “Those changes mean less public content in News Feed like posts from businesses, brands, and media.”
Will Facebook’s New Algorithm Revert Back?
Facebook has a history continually refining their news feed. This new feed algorithm will probably continue to evolve. In fact, this focus on friends and family is a continuation of a news feed algorithm announced in 2016, that was intended to increase the visibility of news “posted by the friends you care about… higher up in your News Feed.”
So yes, it’s quite likely Facebook’s algorithm will continue to evolve. But no, it very likely will not revert back to the previous algorithm. So it’s fairly safe to assume that the old business model of relying on passive consumption of viral content for traffic has quite possibly come to an end.
Passive consumption of content was named by Mark Zuckerberg himself as one of the things Facebook wanted to decrease in his January 2018 announcement:
Now you see me…
Facebook is still tinkering with what you see in your News Feed, but its new aim is to combat fake news rather than make you feel closer to your aunts and uncles.
In addition to that discontinuation, another takeaway from this test is Facebook’s own need to be more transparent when experimenting with new features like this one.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Nations of users should not be social experiments or unwitting A/B testers in the grand design of new products by any company.
Perhaps that’s a lesson that Facebook can like and share.
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
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