Have you read Mark Zuckerberg’s post about the changes coming to Facebook in 2018?
I’m both impressed and depressed:
On the one hand, I am impressed by his courage to be so transparent about the changes he intends to make to the platform. Facebook is a multi-billion dollar company that companies rely on to reach their customers. To say publicly that the content of those companies will be seen even less than before, is shocking. He even suggests that content from those companies that users enjoy and keeps them reading and watching will be seen less than before. The game is no longer about good content, it is about engagement.
From a business perspective, this is depressing. Anyone with a Facebook page knows how difficult it is to get your content seen by the people who like your page. It ranges anywhere between 2% and 6% max. That’s why I find this announcement to be depressing.
Yet, here is what I learned:
Facebook is for social interactions, not consuming content.
Or, at least, that is what it should be for.
The platform drifted away from this mission (“bring the world closer together“) over the last few years. Companies got really good at creating content that people consume. Now they will need to change their approach if they want to succeed. They will need to create a community of people that care about one another and want to interact. The best thing for a company/brand to do now is create and manage a Facebook group (or collection of groups) of small numbers and high engagement–people who care about one another and want to interact.
