As many of you have realized, Facebook has been making it progressively harder to share non-paid content. Usually, only a tiny percentage of your friends and followers (around 2 to 5%) sees whatever it is you’re posting–unless you pay a small fee to have it appear on people’s timelines. Now, Facebook is considering splitting its News Feed in two, as The Independent reports.
The company has confirmed that it is trying out the idea of dividing the site in order to separate commercial posts and pages from personal news.
Normally, Facebook’s News Feed wraps up a host of information from different sources, putting posts from pages with millions of followers alongside those from people’s friends and relatives. Under the test, these will now be split apart, meaning that pages will be put into a separate feed that people will have to actively click through to access. The only way of getting into that personal feed is to pay for the posts to be pushed into it, according to news organizations who have been subject to the test.
Why? Just… Why?
Although this may be the first question in your head, it actually kinda makes sense. The move appears to be aimed at the two problems currently Facebook:
First, it will encourage people to read – and therefore post – information about people’s private lives, rather than information about what’s happening in the world. This is important to Facebook, in order to tailor-aim its ads to its users.
The second is that it will presumably encourage news companies and others to buy more ads, allowing Facebook to, well, generate more money.
At the moment, people are only seeing it in six smaller countries: Bolivia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Serbia, Slovakia, and Sri Lanka, and it will likely go on for months. The company has no plans at the moment for a global test of the two separate feeds for its 2 billion users. Facebook also does not currently plan to force commercial pages to pay for all their distribution.
Still, anyone using Facebook to promote their books should keep an eye on this development, as tests like this often serve as a precursor to bigger changes.
Update
Chris The Story Reading Ape added this comment: “This explains why posts automatically uploaded from my blog can be seen only by me (look for the tiny black padlock above your posts) when, in fact, my settings are for them to be seen PUBLICALLY (look for the tiny globe of the world above your posts).
Since early November I have had to go onto FB and manually change the Padlock to a Globe, in order for them to be seen by everyone.”
Believing Sight Unseen said:
Every time I get to thinking of being on Facebook I read something that makes me think perhaps I shouldn’t. My gut instinct is to not go there yet every writer I know says I should!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Well, if you don’t use Facebook on a daily basis, it’s like not having it at all. My advice is always the same: stick to whatever feels right and works for you.
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
This explains why posts, automatically uploaded from my blog, can be seen only by me, (look for the tiny black padlock above your posts), when, in fact. my settings are for them to be seen PUBLICALLY (look for the tiny globe of the world above your posts).
Since early November I now have to go onto FB and manually change the padlock to a Globe, in order for them to be seen by everyone…SIGH
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dernhelm6 said:
Reblogged this on Indie Lifer.
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Zoe the Fabulous Feline said:
Reblogged this on The Life & Times of Zoe the Fabulous Feline and commented:
As if indie authors needed another challenge.
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Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC said:
Ah yes – yet another reason to underscore why I can’t STAND this once useful and enjoyable platform. Hasn’t been worth visiting for several years now – and OMG, it’s getting worse.
I’m simply not interested in lining their pockets simply to find out what everybody ate for dinner and that they haven’t changed their thoughts on last November’s US election.
Thanks for the heads up, however.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to transform a world!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I only read fun stuff on my timeline nowadays, so it’s good for unwinding 🙂
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Redneck_Goth said:
Reblogged this on Crazy Little Redneck Goth.
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Charles Yallowitz said:
This is why I don’t see Facebook as a worthwhile promoting site. Barely see it useful in general since it seems I’m unseen by most of my friends list. Not going to pay for something that doesn’t feel useful even in a personal level.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Well, I only use it to unwind, since my Timeline is filled with fun animals and stuff. It’s great for that!
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Rarely see the animals. Might be the friends that Facebook allows me to see.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I’ve followed a lot of animal/humor pages, I guess 😀
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Charles Yallowitz said:
I have some humor pages, but most of them went political fit some reason. Just can’t win these days.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That’s always a risk. Thankfully, you can’t lose with animals. Plus, political posts are fine (as long as I agree with them) 😀
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Eh, I’m finding nearly all political posts a pain. Just screaming into the void at this point.
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Alethea Kehas said:
Interesting. I was just thinking about how best to use Facebook to promote my book with some sort of ad campaign… I have noticed that the distribution of nonpaid posts through my business page is not good.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Non-paid posts on business pages get virtually no traction whatsoever…
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Tina Frisco said:
If we lose net neutrality, it will get even worse. But I’m hoping people will continue to wake up, take a stand, and be heard …
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Let’s hope so!
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Adele Marie said:
Reblogged this on firefly465 and commented:
A sad sign of the times.
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Billy Ray Chitwood said:
Thanks for an informative and useful ‘bulletin’.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
A pleasure! I hope they drop that idea, to be honest, but it’s good to be aware of these things so we can plan accordingly.
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T. R. Robinson said:
Thank you Nicholas for drawing our attention to this possible, or is it ‘inevitable’ change. As indie authors we have enjoyed considerable freedom but perhaps not for too much longer.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
So far, it looks like a possible change–but that depends on the pilot scheme’s results. In any case, it’s good to know and plan ahead!
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kimwrtr said:
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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Don Massenzio said:
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this interesting post from Nicholas Rossis’ blog on the split news feed being tested by Facebook
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dgkaye said:
Thanks for sharing Nicholas. I’ve heard a lot of chatter on this new Fb approach. I don’t plan to have any posts pushed thus far. I never found them profitable for promos, so if they don’t want to share my author page posts then I’ll use my personal page. Greed is everywhere. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Well, Facebook is hardly a nonprofit, so that makes sense. I just hope they realize how easy it can be to kill the goose that lays all those golden eggs.
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dgkaye said:
Exactly! 🙂
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Lara/Trace said:
Reblogged this on soul factory and commented:
all the more reason to use FB less
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-Eugenia said:
I am not a fan of FB but my hubby enjoys it. I prefer other sites such as beBee.com, Tumblr, and Twitter. Thank you for posting this useful information and thank you for following BrewNSpew.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks and welcome! FB is becoming such an odd duck lately.
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jjspina said:
Oh boy, looks like another roadblock for authors! Thanks for the headsup, Nicholas & Chris! You guys rock! 🤗 😘
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you so much, Janice 🙂
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Jane Gealy said:
My posts which are automatically generated from WordPress never get seen on FB, so I’ve started posting an excerpt from my blog, seeing what feedback I receive, then posting the link to raise awareness.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That’s a great tip, Jane. Like you, I never get any traction on my automatically-shared posts. I guess I just continue to do it this way because of sheer lack of time!
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HelpShack said:
Nicholas, I believe you’ve been doing Facebook marketing for a while. Thanks for informing us.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s true. I have spent (and misspent) thousands until I finally made them work for me, so learn from my mistakes 😀
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myskyearth said:
facebook said they are coming something valuable for community but I use fb for meme only . I am curious how they change my mind
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I was just reading that traffic to Facebook dropped for the first time ever since they started the new format. It’s now down by 5%.
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myskyearth said:
even I starting enjoying insta and twitter more then facebook. to many and to long post waste my time a lot
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