Here’s how the Facebook algorithm works

“Why should you come to a presentation on Facebook, on a Thursday evening?” It was with this provocation that Andrea Boscaro, one of the founders of The Vortex, the Milan-based think tank that deals with digital marketing, began his presentation on the Facebook algorithm. The “formula” created by the social network allows understanding the level of interaction with readers, generated by every post published. Boscaro’s provocation, essentially made to journalists and bloggers, had a clear answer. “According to Audiweb figures, we increasingly access the Web with smartphones and tablets. About 28 million Italians access the Internet every day, and 26 million of them have Facebook accounts. So, if we work with social networks, it’s necessary to become data analysts, to know how to interpret the facts that receive a greater response from our likers and to follow it,” Boscaro added.

According to Boscaro, being able to interpret the statistics of our posts allows us to see when our readers connect, and what they read, share and like.

“When we write on Facebook, we don’t do it for ourselves, but to get a “Like” for, or to share a comment. This shouldn’t lead us to adopt incorrect behaviours towards the reader.” We should avoid “soliciting readers” with spy-posts like “Click here to discover more”. “In the long run, these approaches can create negative feedback from our readers, who will remove us from their favourites.”

Besides the contents of the post and careful reading of the Insights, the secret must be the involvement we can generate. “Replying in a friendly way, being willing and using a number of instruments, such as Fanpagekarma, and Likalyzer, are essential if we are to understand how we are working on Facebook and how much our work is appreciated by readers.”

The key words of the meeting:

Time Decay, Affinity, Edge Weight, Last Actor, Story bumping.