Edgerank : How The Facebook Algorithm Work
Generally, the first thing we do when entering Facebook is to check our news wall, so we know what is happening recently with our friends and brands with whom we share.
But, have you ever wondered what is the method that governs the order of results in our news wall? By considering this we discovered that not all publications appear on our news wall, since Facebook wants the publications we see are the most relevant for each of us, and thus achieve its goal, which is that users interact more with the publications. For this Facebook has developed an algorithm called “EdgeRank” .
What is the EdgeRank and how does it work?
The EdgeRank is an algorithm whose function is to optimize our news wall in Facebook , determining which publications will appear in this one and in what order. As if it were a filter that allows the most relevant publications to be passed to the news wall, and the rest will only appear on the teletype (instant information) located in the Facebook sidebar.
Now, you may ask, how does this algorithm work? Well, this mathematical formula is based mainly on three factors: affinity, weight and time .
Affinity: the degree of interaction between the user and the creator of the content, the greater the interaction, the greater the level of affinity. For example, if a friend or follower on Facebook interacts with our publications by clicking on “Like”, leaving comments, sharing our publication or browsing our photos, sending messages, etc. It will be sending affinity signals with us and it is very likely that our publications will appear on your news wall.
Weight: is the relevance of the content we publish. The weight depends on the degree of interaction between the users and the publication, it refers to the number of times it is shared, the number of comments, the number of “Like” and the number of clicks on the publication. Share has a high weight, a comment has a medium-high weight, a “Like” has a medium weight and a click a low weight.
Time: is the age of the publication. The longer the time elapsed since it was published the less likely it will be that the publication will appear on the news wall of our friends or followers. This is because Facebook is concerned that users find recent information on their wall.
Sometimes you see old publications that continue to appear on our news wall, this is due to the weight of the publication because the actions you have received (comments, shares, “Like”) are recent.
We already know how the Facebook algorithm works, let’s see now how we can make our publications reach the maximum possible visibility:
- By publishing content that contains videos, images or links, Facebook gives a greater weight to this type of publications, since they generate more interaction.
- Publishing content periodically but not too often, less than three times a day.
- Answering the comments, if your followers or friends see that you respond to their comments, they will be motivated and they will also leave theirs.
- Encourages user interaction with the publication by asking questions or with calls to action.
- Making short publications, these encourage more participation.
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