Facebook is Downgrading Business and Media Posts

if you rely on Facebook primarily for news from businesses and media outlets, you might have to scroll further. Facebook has made a change to its news feed algorithm regarding the hierarchy between user posts and posts from businesses and media outlets.

Posts from Facebook users’ family and friends are now prioritized over those from businesses and media outlets. This means people will see posts from their friends at the top of the news feed and content from businesses and media outlets will show up less predominantly. The change comes after Facebook’s recent struggle with a decline in personal sharing on its platform.

According to the Huffington Post, a recent report from the Pew Research Center has found 44% of Americans get their news from Facebook, which is a bit over 142 million people.

WRAL and Triangle Business Journal posts and a picture of sunset shared by WRAL

As a result of the update, the traffic of posts from the pages of businesses and media companies will likely decline, especially for those places that depend on Facebook primarily to reach its audience. However, the change will have less of an impact if most of a companies’ traffic comes from users sharing and commenting on its content.

Nevertheless, if one of your Facebook friends share a business or media outlet’s post, you will see it at the top of your news feed because the content was posted by a connection.

Posts from businesses and media outlets are not being eliminated; they are simply being pushed down so that video of your niece or picture of your best friend’s new hairstyle will not be missed. After all, Facebook was established with the notion and priority of connecting people with friends and family.

What kind of posts are you seeing on your news feed now?

This is what we are seeing on ours:

Posts about a dog and rabbits

Have you noticed the change?  Do you care?  Share your comments below!