Facebook Announces an Update to Its News Feed Algorithm That Boosts Older Organic Stories

Yesterday on its new Facebook for Business site, the social network announced an update to its News Feed, giving older organic stories that a user doesn’t scroll down far enough to see new life.

In its post, Facebook explains the update to its News Feed ranking algorithm: “Now organic stories that people did not scroll down far enough to see can reappear near the top of News Feed if the stories are still getting lots of likes and comments.”

Early data shows that the update resulted in a 5 percent increase in the number of likes, comments and shares on organic stories users saw from friends. Facebook also shares that the change has resulted in an 8 percent increase in likes, comments and shares for organic stories from Pages.

The company also notes that before the update, users laid their eyes on an average of 57 percent of the stories in their News Feeds. The algorithm tweak lifts that number to 70 percent.

“For Page owners, this means their most popular organic Page posts have a higher chance of being shown to more people, even if they’re more than a few hours old,” Facebook notes. “Advertisers should note, however, that this change does not impact how paid content appears in News Feeds.”

Matt Wurst, director of digital communities at 360i, notes that this algorithm update emphasizes the importance of engagement for a brand’s Facebook posts. He says that brands will notice a decline in impressions and a higher reach, which will yield more engagement with organic posts.

“Engagement will beget greater engagement as popular stories are resurfaced to a new audience comprised of people who previously missed the post,” Wurst writes.

He adds that since time decay is less of a factor, community managers might choose to post more often.