The King is dead! Long live the King!

Ok, the King isn’t really dead but Facebook’s EdgeRank is. Facebook now uses more than 100,000 factors in it’s algorithm to determine what is in your Facebook feed. That’s in addition to the original 3 found in EdgeRank: weight, affinity and time.

I’ve written about EdgeRank in the (past. Just like Facebook, what once was simple now is complex. It is also a reason why I don’t like Facebook as much. I don’t like missing posts from friends who only post once in a blue moon.

So what are your thoughts on Facebook’s algorithms that create what they think you want to see most? Please share in the comments section.

image source: SmartBusinessTrends.com

Facebook makes changes…AGAIN

In the past week Facebook anounced two changes that I think you should take note of: 1) they are going to start allowing hashtags to be posted in status updates and 2) they changed the news feed again.

If you recall from one of my previous posts, hashtags are key words or terms that you expect people to use in searches so that they can find your post(s). It can be an actual word or an abbreviation that would mean something to the intended reader. For instance one conference I will be attending uses the hashtag #afpicon so people can find information specific to the conference. Another example would be to add the hashtag #autism to a post about autism. You would then be alerting people that the theme is autism and at the same time helping search features of Facebook, Google, etc., know what the keyword is in your post.

The second item I mention was the news feed. Facebook is still in the process of rolling it out to all !.0 bilion+ users. The goal is to make the page design more visually appealing to users – especially those using mobile technology.
Mark Zuckerberg said that the new news feed will “give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper in the world.”

So how do you use hashtags and how do you like the new Facebook news feed? Let us know in the comments. We want to hear from you.

Twitter Walls

If you know me you know I like to use Hootsuite to manage my social media feeds. Hootsuite has started offering a free service called #HootFeed. #HootFeed is a free tool built for sharing twitter feeds with an audience. You can projected it on the screen or wall behind presenters, in common areas at conference or special events or on your laptop at a trade show, all without having to refresh the screen.

And…it’s not just for the conference and event scene. You can display a feed in lobby of your office or in meetings at your office.

Twitter feeds can be an important tool if you want to see what people are saying about a specific hashtag while a speech is going on or while an event or meeting is happening.

How can you harness it? Let us know in the comments section.

Photo from Hootsuite

Facebook’s EdgeRank

Ever wonder why some things people post on Facebook show up in your Top News Feed when you first log in while updates others don’t appear unless you click on the most recent status updates? Me too.

The reason why is EdgeRank. EdgeRank is a formula that Facebook uses to figure out what it thinks you should see first, i.e. what is most news worthy. What Facebook won’t tell people is how to ensure that your own feed will rank high in EdgeRank.

Thanks to The Daily Beast, who did a non-scientific study to find characteristics of why some feeds are mentioned first above others, we may now know. They found that it boils down to three things:

1. Affinity
2. Weight
3. Time

The Daily Beast defines Affinity as how much you like a friend. The more you comment, view and click on a friend’s postings, the higher affinity rank they achieve. The Daily Beast found it’s a one way street – you can’t increase the chances of your posts showing up in a friend’s top news feed by clicking on their posts. Their feed will be more likely to show up in yours if you click and comment frequently on theirs. You will need to get the friend to comment and like your postings more often to increase the odds you will show up in their Top News Feed.

Weight gets a lot of importance in EdgeRank. The longer someone engages or interaacts with content, the more the weight. There are three important parts of weight: 1) photo/video which are more important than 2) links which are more important than 3) status updates. The Next Web Blog explains it as:

“… [I]t’s not just the posted content that factors into EdgeRank. Remember the Affinity score above? How many photos did you “Like” today? And how many images did you leave a comment on? And there we have it – the comments. Comments are the single most valuable factor in an object’s EdgeRank. The Facebook reasoning here is engagement. Meaning, it takes much more effort on the end users’ part to type out a comment than to click a “Like” button.”

The third component Time factors in how long ago you commented, liked or posted something. Was the thing you posted submitted ten minutes ago or ten days ago? Freshness is very important. You don’t want old news that you would use to wrap your fish or line the bird cage.

Facebook EdgeRank's Formula

So there it is, Facebook is trying to give you the most relevant information based on the your habits. It’s not just cutting out your friends’ postings.

Since you can’t force force your postings into your followers Top News Feeds what’s a charity to do? Post items, that are affinity-causing, weighty and timely. Post things that will cause interaction between you and the constituent/friend. Post photos and videos that will generate discussion. Post things that are provocative without being polarizing. You will then be on your way to making your feed appear more frequently in the Top News feeds of your followers and online friends.