I know most of you don’t come here to read about what it’s like to be a blogger. So thank you for humoring me and reading this post anyway. Because the truth of the matter is, this issue doesn’t just impact bloggers. It affects all Facebook “Likers” too.
So, here’s the situation. As you know, my blog has its own Facebook page (ehem). I’ve worked very hard to organically (meaning no gimmicks, tricks, or giveaway entries) build this audience of 882 Facebook “fans”. These are people who have chosen to officially “Like” the Using Our Words page on Facebook so that all my posts will show up in their feed. And that’s how it works, right? Well, no. Not at all.
Each time I post something on my Facebook page, the company’s algorithms guess who will want to see the post (I’ve written about this, too). Then it slowly shows up in a very small number of feeds—about 5-10% of those who have liked the page. As time goes on, and more readers “Like” or leave a comment on the post, it starts showing up in more feeds. Because if readers are engaging on Facebook, this post must actually be worth showing the people who opted in to see what I post on my page.
Personally, this impacts me in a couple ways.
One, you, my lovely readers, tend to be quiet consumers. You aren’t big on clicking “Like” or commenting—on Facebook or my blog. A few of you are, and I’m very grateful for that. I love the conversation that can happen in social media or in the comments, and make a post so much more than what I put on the page. But I’m grateful to those of you who like to keep our conversations private, too. You find other ways to tell me that my words are meaningful to you—in a quick conversation in line at the grocery store, a private Facebook message, or even calling my kids by their screen names when I see you because you know them better that way than in real life.
Two, brands and advertising networks care about “Likes”—even the ones who understand the algorithm game. Many ad networks won’t even consider working with bloggers who don’t have 1000 Facebook fans. I’ve made a conscious choice that I only want people who truly want to read my content to “Like” my page. I don’t want to pay for Facebook ads that I’ve heard drive false “Likes” through offshore click farms. And, while I’ve done it more recently, I hate sending invitations to my Facebook friends to “Like” my blog page. It feels like begging, and if Facebook were actually showing the people who have “Like”d my page each post, I wouldn’t have to beg for more. I feel confident that more people would read, give me the good ol’ thumbs up, share, etc.
Ok, enough of my personal background and thoughts. I’ll let these numbers illustrate the point.
This post I wrote when school got out in June had 7 people click “Like”, and it was still only shown to 246 people (let’s estimate that I had about 850 people who had opted in at that point, so ~29%):
This post, with 3 likes and 1 comment, showed up in just 157 feeds:
This post, from last night, had just one like and was shown to 118 people (13%):
Last week, I posted this picture for fun—no link—to my Using Our Words page (I’m told pictures are shown to the highest number of people, and links where you actually display the large headline/photo as the link get seen by the smallest number—though as of today, hopefully that will change):
In the course of 30 minutes it had only been shown to a handful of people, so I decided to post it to my personal page as well. By the time Facebook had shown my Using Our Words post in 36 feeds, it already had 47 “Like”s on my personal page. By the next day, here were the two feeds and their numbers:
I have many more examples, but hopefully this will get you thinking. If you really want to read a blogger’s posts, clicking “Like” on a Facebook page is a great start—as I mentioned, those do help—but consider following bloggers in different ways as well.
Personally, I’ve been trying to subscribe to bloggers’ email feeds. Some bloggers do a newsletter, others (like me) use a service that emails the post to you soon after it’s posted. I love being able to read all my favorites in one sitting, rather than being interrupted throughout the day on Facebook. (Though if I do see my favorite bloggers’ feeds in my Facebook stream, I try to at least click “Like” to help others see them too.)
In an effort to help those of you who want to engage more with bloggers after learning this, I asked my personal Facebook friends how they like to follow their favorite blogs—beyond the Facebook “Like”. I’m excited to give these sites/apps a try too.
FEEDLY
This was by far the most popular response. Kimberly of Silicon Valley Mamas, Virginia of Mandarin Mama, Rachelle of Tinkerlab, and non-blogger friends all recommended Feedly. Michele of Scraps of My Geek Life said,
“Feedly for sure. I even pay for the premium version and it’s very worth it.”
BLOGLOVIN
Jennifer of Our Urban Playground said,
“I like bloglovin—it’s simple and a clean design. The downside is it’s hard to share posts you love. I also always follow the Facebook page of blogs I like to read. It makes for a richer experience to follow on the social networks as well.”
What do you think? Are these numbers surprising to you as a Facebook user? How do you follow your favorite blogs?
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Hi Amy,
thank you for this post. As a smaller blog it’s so frustrating what Facebook has done to the business page. Readers don’t understand or realize this is happening. People will ask me “why haven’t I seen your posts lately?” Subscriptions are the way to go, but it’s not easy to persuade readers to take this next step.
Exactly, Domonique. I’ve been thinking about how to write this for a long time. But the other night, when the photo had such a dramatic difference in views and response, I knew I had to get it out there. I hope this helps people understand and engage with small(ish) bloggers like us in new ways. I’ve been seeing your posts in my feed and enjoying them!
Oh my goodness. I can so relate. I’ve experienced the same. I tried advertising a single post once, and while it got viewed by over 4,000 people, the number of those who actually engaged and opened the link wasn’t much more. Certainly not worth paying for it. I’ve gotten much better results for free simply by my friends sharing a good post. Content is still king. But, if Facebook doesn’t give a post a chance to be seen then no one has the opportunity to judge your content. So frustrating.
Absolutely, Brie. And you have great content…which is why I subscribe to your blog by email. 🙂
Thank you so much! I’ll be subscribing to yours also.
The Facebook algorithms are a complete mystery to me. Frustratingly so. I’ve seen people try a variety of ways to get read and am not sure what works best (I’m not super savvy that way). I read things on NewsBlur and I love it – I read my whole feed every single day. I also click links on Twitter that people whose opinions I trust share. I think the question of whose words get out and how is a really interesting and complicated one! xox
It’s so interesting and complicated. I think bloggers like us live in that mindset constantly (even though some of us try not to), and people who are casual readers just don’t even realize that it’s happening. Hopefully as people understand, they can support the smaller-ish blogs that they love as much as the posts that go viral on Facebook. Because there’s just such great stuff out there that people aren’t seeing. And I’m certainly not talking about myself. I’m talking about bloggers like you!
I agree 100% with your style, I too want it to be organic and sometimes feel sad and discouraged at the fact that not all people see the page the same goes for me not seeing every page I’ve liked on my feed. I’ve decided that to change what Facebook shows in my feed each week I engage the entire week in 10-15 different pages I’ve liked because I want to be able to read everyone’s page on my feed. I’m even doing this with friends and leaving them messages to say hi or ask how they’re doing.
What a great approach! I’ll try this too! Thanks for the idea.