Facebook – the largest social network in the world – has been known to regularly update its news feed algorithm. Often these changes make it more difficult for businesses to reach people organically in their news feeds.
It is well known that the more engagement a post has, the more likely the post will be found in users’ newsfeeds. The number of likes, and comments, signal to Facebook that the post is of interest to users and needs to be shown to others.
However, since additional reactions have been added as options on posts, Facebook have decided to place more weight on these other reactions than the much used “like”.
Facebook state, “Over the past year we’ve found that if people leave a reaction on a post, it is an even stronger signal that they’d want to see that type of post than if they left a Like on the post”. “So we are updating News Feed to weigh reactions a little more than Likes when taking into account how relevant the story is to each person.”
They do have a point I suppose. The additional options show a stronger reaction and level of engagement than the simple Like. And, if a user chooses a reaction to show how they feel about a post, Facebook will use this interaction to decide what type of content to show more prominently in that user’s news feed.
It is also rumoured that reactions may well be used in Facebook’s advertising platform in the near future, as a way for businesses to target users based on their reactions.
Inspiration was taken from – Search Engine Journal