As you probably know our Facebook newsfeeds are constantly being filled with posts of dire warnings to “do this” or “do that” or something bad will happen.
They usually ask you to share the post with your friends as well.
And as you also probably know, the vast majority of those “share this or suffer the consequences” type of posts are hoaxes and scams.
That being said, every now and then one of these posts will actually be based upon actual facts.
One case in point is a post that’s been making the rounds of late. The actual text may vary a bit, but it looks something like this:
I was wondering why my news feed looks so different recently 
???? I only see posts from the same 25 people over and over again. And according to my page I have 100’s of friends!
I found out that Facebook has new algorithm. 
???? so can you do me a quick favor?? 
????
???? if you look at this, leave me a gif or a quick “hi”, then more friends will be posted in my news feed. Otherwise Facebook chooses who I see and I don’t need Facebook to choose my friends! 
???? Thank you!
????????Don’t hesitate to copy and paste on your wall so you can have more interaction with your friends too!
Although there are minor factual errors in these posts, the advice at the end is actually sound.
Facebook really is “deciding” who should see your posts with their EdgeRank algorithm.
In a nutshell, Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm checks to see how often each of your friends interact with your posts by sharing them, liking them and commenting on them.
If a particular friend never interacts with your posts, Facebook assumes that that friend has no interest in seeing them so they’ll stop displaying your posts in that friend’s newsfeed.
Chances are this has already affected you. Have you noticed that you never see the posts from certain friends in your newsfeed anymore? If so, that’s Facebook’s EdgeRank alorithm at work.
What happened was you went several days without interacting with those friends’ posts so Facebook assumed you were no longer interested in seeing them. Therefore, they simply stopped placing those friends’ posts in your newsfeed.
What’s more, the problem is about to get a lot worse as Facebook is planning to make the EdgeRank algorithm even more aggressive than it has been up until now!
I don’t know about you, but I prefer to decide for myself whose posts should show up in my newsfeed.
Luckily, there’s a very easy way to make any friend’s posts start showing up again. Simply go to that friend’s Timeline page every day and like, share and/or comment on a few of their posts. After a few days their posts will automatically start showing up in your newsfeed again.
Interacting with your friends’ posts on a daily basis tells the EdgeRank algorithm that you are indeed interested in their posts, prompting Facebook to start showing them in your newsfeed again.
Just be aware that you need to keep interacting with your friends’ posts to keep them coming to your newsfeed. If you stop liking, sharing and commenting even for a few days EdgeRank will rear its ugly head and cause Facebook to stop showing that friend’s posts again.
If you’re interested, here are a couple of references on this topic:
1 – EdgeRank – A guide to Facebook’s Newsfeed Algorithm
2 – How to really get your message out on Facebook
I hope this is a help to you. Now you understand why you’ve stopped receiving some of your friends’ posts (and what you need to do to make them start showing up again).
It would also help to share this post so your friends will know what’s going on as well.
And finally, if you enjoy my daily tech tips and the “Picture of the Day” I post every morning I hope you’ll keep interacting with my posts by sharing them, liking them and commenting on them. That will prevent Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm from blocking my posts from your newsfeed!
Bonus tip: This post explains how to protect your Facebook account from hackers.
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