25 Jan Another FB Algo Change Punishes Brands | Social You Should Know
Facebook Punishes Brand Updates That Are Text Only
Remember when Facebook told us that the best content would be surfaced to people? It no longer says that. Now if you are a brand and share a text-only update, your reach will be less. This is after Facebook said a few weeks ago that “news” sites would get preferential treatment in the feed. While there are obvious ramifications to brand posting strategies (photos and links, people, photos and links!), it’s frustrating to me that Facebook is walking away from surfacing content based on the community’s reaction to that individual piece of content, not the overall format. If these tweaks are working, why do 70% of women surveyed say they are spending the same or less time on Facebook, while only 32% say the same about Instagram?
New Research on Popular Social Networks
Pinterest is now the third-most popular social network among U.S. adults, passing Twitter, according to Pew Research, while Instagram comes in fifth and LinkedIn third. But Instagram is #2 if you measure the percentage of users using it daily. Pinterest is much more likely to be used “less than weekly.” Instagram is stickier, one reason that even more research shows that it drives 18x more engagement than Facebook and 48x more engagement than Twitter.
Ad-Free Chinese Social Network Weixin Grows Quickly and Toward Profit
While Facebook, Twitter and Instagram look to monetize through ads, a Chinese social network named Weixin (“way-shin”) has grown to 300m users after only three years, a faster rate than Twitter or Facebook. It’s the creation of Tencent, the Internet company that had huge success in China earlier with QQ. Several interesting points: Unlike earlier networks, which were knockoffs of American and Korean products, Weixin is a unique construct—a mix of Facebook, Instagram, SMS – that is clearly resonating with young Chinese. Also, they are on their way to profitability without a dime of advertising revenue. Hmmm…
