Let’s be clear. Facebook change things twice a day every day and while this latest news is a more public admission of a change in the algorithm, changes themselves are nothing new. Your newsfeed requires you to be glued to it or Facebook’s ability to put advertising on it diminishes – and it is clear people’s attention has been waning of late.

Have you got bored of people falling down the stairs, slipping on ice or seeing kids talk gibberish after the dentist anesthetic wears off? Hopefully “Yes!” is the answer, but this latest tweak is about more than this.

The tide of fake news and political hostility has meant people are losing friends through Facebook as fast as they are making them in “real life”. Endless divisive memes and fake, or almost fake, posts are creating an unpleasant connotation that has obviously gotten to Mark Zuckerburg. Well, that and the opportunity to further limit brand’s organic reach and thus push them not only into spending more ad $, but using more targeted planning to avoid newsfeed apathy.

Zuckerberg said “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..”

All in all these changes are a good thing for you the Facebook browser. You want a better newsfeed, more targeted ads and less arguments with friends over fake news.

The definition of marketing is to satisfy customer demand and you demanded this. Facebook wants to make more money, so everyone is happy as long as there is authentic, quality and friends first posts on newsfeeds.

Brands shouldn’t freakout about the likelihood of less organic reach for posts too. The average organic reach is down to around 2% on posts, meaning that your 100,000 page Likes are probably worth around $12 in paid (more targeted) reach. The reduction in this will not make a big difference to your strategy unless it’s one of a more slapstick nature.

Have you noticed a difference in your Facebook experience? Are you seeing less branded content for more posts from friends and family?

My first memory of the perils resulting from live TV was a baby elephant called Lulu taking a dump on the studio floor of the BBC during a live showing of Blue Peter, Britain’s  top childrens show.  Lulu then pulled her zoo keeper through the mess, smearing it across the floor as Peter Purvis tried to keep talking and not burst out in laughter. (more…)