People are freaking out about the change with the new Facebook Explore Feed.
Especially in the 8 countries were Facebook is testing this new feature.
Just look at this impact 60 of the biggest Slovak media Facebook pages are having:
According to journalist Filip Struharik, organic reach dropped by two-thirds compared to previous days.
Wow…
The head of two of Guatemala’s newspaper also commented that traffic has decreased dramatically since Facebook launched the Explore Feed:
Soy502.com saw a drop of 66% to their website.
Nomada saw a drop of 60% of website visits coming from Facebook.
I live in Guatemala. One of the countries selected for this test.
And I can tell you… the impact has been felt hard on businesses.
Just look at Martin (head of Nomada newspaper) comments earlier this month:
“Looks like Facebook just made independent newspapers, with fewer resources, work harder now that they pushed news out of the newsfeed. Slowly moving more towards The Circle.”
He even wrote an article
Dina Fernandez, a journalist at Soy502.com, has said that
She is very worried about the change not only because it decimated our numbers but also because the feed pops up with preposterious sites.
Facebook has publicly acknowledged that this is only a test.
Adam Mosseri, Head of News Feed, acknowledged earlier this week:
“We currently have no plans to roll this test out further.”
But I am not 100% convinced on this statement. I have a feeling the Facebook Explore Feed debacle will continue.
You can read the full statement below:
However, I have my doubts.
From a user stand-point of view, the Facebook Explorer Feed makes sense.
Why?
I honestly think people were getting tired of having mixed content on their newsfeed. So splitting commercial with personal content is the way to go.
Your newsfeed just got to clogged with spammy content.
The question is how to do this change without having a backlash from your customers (not users) – companies that are spending millions to advertise on Facebook.
So I think there is a 50/50 chance they are sticking with this strategy.
This is also not the first time Facebook deals with spammy content?
Because this is no the first time something of this nature happens.
Back in 2012, games virality within Facebook exploded… but it also became way too spammy.
So Facebook changed their algorithm and companies like Zynga went bust.
Just look at the data from Daily Active Users after 2012 change in the algorithm below:
Think of all the media or content publishers that rely on social media channels for most of their traffic.
Even worse.
Publishers that have relied solely on Facebook.
Just look at Buzzfeed’s most viralized content for the past year.
There are articles that have an engagement of +1.5MM times. Think about how much free traffic those organic posts bring to their website:
So…
What would this change on Facebook Explore Feed mean for yours?
How can you prepare for the feed debacle?
Want to know how?
Keep reading…
What is the Facebook Explore Feed?
Facebook basically split content users see into two tabs:
- Facebook News Feed
- Facebook Explore Feed
What is the difference?
Pretty simple.
Split content from publishers or Fan Pages from personal content.
All content (pictures, images, texts, videos and so on) originated by your friends is going to appear in your normal News Feed.
However…
All content published by Fan Pages (companies) is shown on the Explore Feed.
The difficulty is that users are not clicking on the Explore Feed.
A new “Rocket” icon will appear on your mobile phone…
The tab menu for the Explore Feed is not so obvious.
So it makes sense that organic reach for all publishers in the test collapsed.
Which countries were selected for the test?
If you are in Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Bolivia, Guatemala and Cambodia, you are part of the elite group of countries selected for the test.
Lucky you if you are a publisher in another country.
Because the effects of this change were felt hard by major publishers in all of these countries.
I live in Guatemala, and all newspapers are worried.
Shitting their pants… to put it bluntly. I’ve talked with heads of major publishers here in Guatemala and they are freaking out.
The change will not only affect major publishers, but it will also affect you as a business owner.
Why would Facebook make this change?
Quite simple.
Welcome to the era of messenger and chatbots.
I’ve written about this before “From informal commerce to social commerce… the leapfrog developing markets are making and killing eCommerce altogether in the process“.
I think Facebook has realized that the future of advertising is not in your newsfeed but in monetizing all of their mobile assets: Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp.
Just look at the numbers below as of 2016:
I am sure the number of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger users is much higher by now.
However, Facebook is late in the game. Maybe not late, but they don’t want to lag behind.
Look at what Line and WeChat have achieved in China.
There is a whole economy behind WeChat.
They have their own Facebook, Amazon, Uber, you can add credit cards, transfer money, split bills, order water delivery, make online payments, hotel reservations, hail a cab…
WeChat basically has an ownership over the whole ecosystem.
And you might not think about it, but they are the biggest threat to Facebook. Image WeChat pushing a strategy for other developing countries.
Facebook knows that they need to migrate and increase functionality around their messenger apps (Facebook messenger and WhatsApp). Build a whole ecosystem around those two apps in order to continue dominating the market.
It the future of monetization. It was just a matter of time and it’s coming quite fast.
Just look at the announcement made earlier this month:
Aeromexico just recently launched the first chatbot in Latinamerica. You can now buy airline tickets directly on your messenger.
So make no mistake. There will be consequences for advertisers in the short term.
From a business standpoint of view, the Explore Feed is horrible news. It forces businesses to pivot social media strategies.
And I believe that is exactly what Facebook is looking for. Transition businesses into Facebook Messenger chatbots and Whatsapp quicker than ever.
Why?
Because they don’t want to lag behind.
Hence, why I believe there is a 50/50 chance Facebook rolls out the Explore Feed globally.
10 Consequences of Facebook Explore Feed change for your business
So…
here are 10 consequences that are going to be felt by major publishers if Facebook rolls out the Explore Feed globally:
1, Organic reach will continue to decrease
People are just not using the Explore Feed tab.
It could be a matter of time; however, it won’t be used as much by as the normal News Feed. This means that organic reach will continue to decrease for all.
If you had an organic reach of 2%-5% now, this number will be much lower in the next coming months.
2, Ads will be more expensive
By splitting the feed into two, there will be fewer users and time on your Newsfeed.
Less time.
Fewer users.
Less space to sell.
More competition.
Your ads will just be more expensive. Plus you will HAVE to pay in order to reach your user base.
It is difficult to estimate by how much the cost of each action within Facebook will increase, but this is a fact. Your current ROAS will be harder to reach.
Advertising on Facebook will just be more expensive.
3, Good bye to buying Likes or Fans
If you spent a good time and effort buying Fans….
I am sorry to say it but it was a waste of your time and money. With less reach, you will just have to pay in order to truly reach your audience.
We’ve had clients who spent a fortune buying likes.
I am sorry to say this again… but it was a waste of money. Because now you will have to pay -even more- to reach those same fans.
4, Another big lesson for everyone… you can’t depend on one social channel
We were talking with a good friend of mine in a digital agency and this change in Facebook newsfeed is a big lesson for all publishers.
You can’t just rely on a catchy title in order to bring traffic to your site.
They will now have to be more technical and push other efforts in order to increase traffic.
The value an SEO expert, email marketing, and other social media changes can bring to the table will become more important than ever.
Publishers who were relying too heavily on social media channels and will now have to strengthen other areas of their teams.
5, Quality over quantity of posts
I am actually happy with this change as it will force companies/publishers to really think about the quality of their posts.
It will also force small agencies that offer Facebook services to increase their quality of service. They won’t just be able to offer your typical 30-posts a month anymore.
Quality of content has just become more important than quantity of posts on your Fan Page.
6, More need for training and specialization on Facebook ads
Good news for all of us who are in the education industry.
With this change in the newsfeed, Facebook has just forced people to really understand better how to advertise on their platform.
Why?
Because if you want to get better results with what your efforts with Facebook, you will really need to understand better how to correctly advertise on Facebook.
Become an expert on Facebook advertising has just become more valuable as well.
7, The era of just “boosting” a post is over
It was sooo easy.
Just boost your post. I am sorry to say this but the era of boosting a post is over.
If Facebook rolls the Explore Feed globally, ads will be more expensive and it will be harder to get the same results with a mediocre campaign.
Companies will have to optimize campaigns as much as possible. Audiences will have to be more specific, ad types will be more exact and delivery optimization will be more important than ever.
8, Big media companies will struggle while they adopt the new algorithm
Honestly, I feel bad and they will be the most affected by this change.
Publishers will have to figure out how to recover their traffic, remarket users and use their databases to bring people back to their sites.
Again… they will have to change how they are creating and scaling content with quality. The content will just have to be better now.
9, Fake news are out 🙂
Yes.
This change will probably allow Facebook to curate content better. It will be easier for them to decrease the impact that fake news are having.
Just like users got sick of spammy games on their newsfeed, users have been complaining about the virality of fake news.
10, Creative will become more important than before
Yes.
More quality means better creative with your content. Not just posting any picture but actually curating and spending resources and effort in improving your branding and creative.
Conclusion
Is this going to happen?
Will Facebook really roll out it Facebook Explore Feed globally?
Not sure. Facebook came out saying they won’t; however, I think there is still a 50/50 chance they will.
Why?
Because from a user standpoint, its a better experience. It just a matter of time and how it will be rolled out.
Facebook also knows they need to move quickly into the messenger world. They need to build an ecosystem in order to continue its social media domination.
I am not sure if it will go through the same tab as today, but they need to figure out how to split content coming from your friends than from publishers.
The newsfeed just got to clogged with spammy content.
Definitely worth preparing for this big change as it will affect you as a business or publisher.
What do you think?