All You Need To Know About How Facebook's Newsfeed Works

Understanding the Facebook algorithm is essential for your Facebook marketing campaigns. The news feed is based on a huge number of factors, and we’re here to help you understand how it works, and how you can use the algorithm to work in your favour. As we explained earlier this week, Zuckerberg said he put “friends and family at the core of the experience … [because] strengthening our relationships improves our well-being and happiness”. This meant that things such as comments and reactions have been put to the top of the algorithm. Let’s get on to a few more ways the algorithm works so you can utilise this information for your next campaign.

3) Average time spent on content

The longer people are spending on your content, the higher up it’s going to be in the algorithm. Whether that’s viewing an image or watching a video, it’s not entirely clear but ultimately you want to be sharing engaging content that will have users wanting to engage with it.

4) Live video

Facebook pushes live videos high up in the newsfeed. Why? Vidoes have always been popular, but live videos are relatively new and as Facebook were one of the first social media platforms to run it, they want to encourage the use of them. Furthermore, Zuckerberg wrote that “live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook – in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos”. Therefore, if you have a new product you want to show off, or a new service, a great way to promote it on Facebook is through a live video.

5) Timing of posts

Timing is key. More recent content is more likely to be seen, however Facebook checks when you were last active and as a result the higher quality content, whether it’s older or newer, will be prioritised for people that haven’t seen it. However, if, like many millennials, you check Facebook every few hours – or even minutes – Facebook will prioritise the most recent posts.

6) How many other people are posting the same thing

If you create sharable content, the more people that are sharing it the higher up in the newsfeed it will be as Facebook assumes that the content is important. For instance, if several of your Facebook friends shared a post, it will say “Maria and 5 other friends shared…” high up in the news feed.

We hope these points about the Facebook algorithm help you with your next campaign!