Facebook Comment Algorithm Update

by WF Will Administrator
16 replies
Hey Warriors!

Facebook is phasing in a pretty significant update to their algorithm - they will be changing how comments are ranked by the algorithm on the newsfeed.

According to Facebook "Posts with positive quality signals will be seen by more people and low quality signals will have their newsfeed reach reduced."

Their goal with this update is to hide low quality posts from their newsfeed to provide more relevant content to users.

Comment Quality will be evaluated 4 factors:
  • Integrity Signals (if comments are authentic and don't violate community guidelines).
  • User Indicated Preferences (based on facebook user surveys)
  • User Interaction Signals (how people interact with posts)
  • Moderation Signals (if they have deleted or hidden comments in posts).
Facebook has mentioned something similar back in 2017 when they were cracking down on "Engagement Baiting Comments", but it seems like they will be starting to enforce this more strictly with this algorithm change.

Here are some examples of different types of engagement baiting:




This could end up affecting a lot of brands as engagement baiting posts are a relatively popular tactic for increasing engagement and traffic.

One method of engagement baiting that is very popular are Giveaway Contests where they ask people to tag a friend and follow their page to enter the contest.
(Example below)

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There are currently a few workarounds to this which is to ask an audience a specific question or incorporate your engagement CTA in a video (however that could change depending on this new algorithm).

Here are some examples of the workarounds:

Example 1: Raptors vs Warriors Ticket Giveaway - instead of tagging a friend, they can ask "Comment down which team you think is going to win the NBA Finals to enter!"

Example 2: Giveaway for Music Festival Tickets
- they could pose their question to something easy to answer like "Which artist would you like to see in Coachella 2020?"

The most important thing for Facebook is that people are contributing meaningful engagement instead of spammy comments.

What do you guys think?

Should engagement baiting be banned completely? Or do you think people actually like those type of posts?
#algorithm #comment #facebook #update
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  • Profile picture of the author palmtreelife
    I think it depends on the type of baiting. I never like/comment/share for a contest. I also don't comment with one word if they tell me to. However, what would work for me are the workarounds you mentioned. Those workarounds do sound more like proper engagement. I might be triggered by the correct vote bait if the vote applies to me.

    Having said that, I don't like how social media platforms continue to change their rules. It's kind of like tax law. The tax laws change frequently, but the smart people always find a way around the new laws to reduce the amount paid compared to the masses.

    The same is true in social media. The smart people will figure out the workarounds to continue beating the masses, which is probably why the platforms don't care about the workarounds because they're aiming to make a correction for the masses.

    TLDR: I don't think engagement baiting should be banned. At least it's some kind of relevant engagement...if they could fix the bot epidemic in social media, then we'd be onto something really interesting.
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    • Profile picture of the author WF Will
      Administrator
      I agree 100% - it's crazy how often they change and make updates to their platform (and not necessarily for the better).

      I feel like there are much better things they could be working on besides cracking down on Engagement Baiting.

      At least their Facebook Ads Platform works well
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    well my thought are ..facebook is trying to kill any organic methods of promoting products ..and for them to buy advertising

    now i can be cynical and pessimistic and think the community standard are being set from the political view of thepeople at facebook

    or i can hold the view facebook is trying to draw in big budget advertisers ..and needs to clean up house a bit ..to please them..and destroy any organic methods of advertising on the platform ..

    i will go with pure profit motive attached to option two

    facebook as they attempt to movine into being an international e commerce company .. backed by their own digital currency ..don't think you can get access to buyer for free for long ..
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  • Profile picture of the author luciesmazanska
    this is a great post thank you!
    I mean I agree with facebook
    its full of crap and spam content, scam sellers etc

    I just dont understand why people put so much effort to get a free traffic from facebook when its so effective and cheap when you pay for it
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    • Profile picture of the author MichaelQuinn
      Originally Posted by luciesmazanska View Post

      this is a great post thank you!
      I mean I agree with facebook
      its full of crap and spam content, scam sellers etc

      I just dont understand why people put so much effort to get a free traffic from facebook when its so effective and cheap when you pay for it
      I agree with you here, I'd so much rather pay for effective traffic. I'm launching my first ad campaign this week so we'll see how well it does
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  • Profile picture of the author gloriousbach
    Thanks for information
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  • Profile picture of the author HarrisonJ
    Facebook is headed in the right direction. I'm sure their stock price will reflect their efforts in time.
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  • Profile picture of the author kayolhope
    I think WF Will's advice is very helpful as recently I found myself in FB jail for manually posting the details of an upcoming affiliate launch to several FB groups that are about sharing the details about upcoming affiliate product launches and temp banned for supposedly posting content that goes against the community TOS ironically.

    FB is getting very strict and seems to be taking a page out of YouTube's playbook by censoring creators as of late. Even paid ads that were once approved seem to now be up disapproved resulting in requiring to dispute before being approved again. Such a waste of time really.

    This just goes to show that you need to keep control of your content and never rely on any social media platform, marketplace, or payment processor. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I aways try to diversify my income streams in case something goes belly up.
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    Kayol Hope – Digital/Online Growth Consultant
    I help small business owners find, connect, and gain new paying customers from the web!
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  • While I do agree that some engagement baiting techniques are tacky (or downright stupid), I don't think they should be banned.

    As a user, I actually enjoy participating in some of those posts. If it's done well and within the safety of a solid community, engagement baiting is a great way to motivate interaction and get some solid data outside of analytics.
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    • Profile picture of the author sgalla414
      Originally Posted by John Jonas Phil VA View Post

      While I do agree that some engagement baiting techniques are tacky (or downright stupid), I don't think they should be banned.

      As a user, I actually enjoy participating in some of those posts. If it's done well and within the safety of a solid community, engagement baiting is a great way to motivate interaction and get some solid data outside of analytics.
      Agreed. Some of the "win front row tickets to this NHL game" or things of that nature are fun and mutually beneficial. I can see getting rid of some of the engagement bait but down playing all engagement baiting seems unnecessary.
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  • Profile picture of the author gloriousbach
    In my opinion Facebook is the better for a work but it is expensive.
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  • Profile picture of the author amrel227
    very nice information i am searching for this
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  • Profile picture of the author pramodtapu
    nice sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author RevForce19
    I really appreciate the information you shared and the suggestions on how to get around the new update! Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author cearionmarie
    Hi, thanks for sharing this one! I thought it's only on Instagram but since it's technically under the same company as Facebook then this doesn't come as a surprise.
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    Cearion Uy - Marketing Advisor
    www.influencerauditor.com

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    • Profile picture of the author WF Will
      Administrator
      Originally Posted by cearionmarie View Post

      Hi, thanks for sharing this one! I thought it's only on Instagram but since it's technically under the same company as Facebook then this doesn't come as a surprise.
      Based on personal experience, it seems like Facebook is enforcing this more.
      Instagram still seems to be ok with comment / engagement baiting (engagement hasn't dropped for doing these type of posts so far)
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