What Was the 2018 News Feed Change for Brands?

On 11 January 2018, Meta’s Head of News Feed, Adam Mosseri, announced a ranking update to show people more posts that spark conversation between friends and family. Meta said that meant less public content from publishers and businesses, so Pages could see lower reach, video watch time and referral traffic. The post says nothing about ads.

What did Meta announce on 11 January 2018?

Before the update, Meta said, News Feed used signals such as how many people react to, comment on or share a post. The update added a prediction: which posts you might want to talk about with your friends. Those posts rank higher. Meta also said it would “prioritize posts from friends and family over public content”, and that the changes would roll out over the next few months. The post is dated 11 January 2018 and carries a second date, 7 November 2019.

Meta said the priority on friends and family was “consistent with our News Feed values”. For you, it means a Page competes with friends’ posts for the same space.

What did Meta say would happen to Pages?

Because space in News Feed is limited, Meta said it would show “less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses”. It added that Pages “may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease”, and that the effect would vary from Page to Page. Pages whose posts people generally do not react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends would see less of an effect.

Meta also said Page posts would still appear in News Feed, “though there may be fewer of them”. It stressed that this was not the same as recent tests that moved all Page content to the Explore tab. If you manage a Page, you can read your own reach trend rather than assume the worst.

Which Page posts did Meta say would rank higher?

Kind of post	What Meta said in 2018
Posts that start back-and-forth discussion, shares and reactions	Shown higher
Posts from friends and family	Prioritized over public content
Public content from publishers and businesses	Less of it shown
“Engagement-bait” asking people to comment	Not a meaningful interaction; still demoted

Meta’s examples of posts that start conversation included live videos, posts from creators and celebrities, public content in Groups, updates and events from local businesses, and news that sparks discussion. Meta also said people could pick See First in News Feed Preferences to always see posts from Pages they follow. You can ask followers to do that, and you can write posts that give people something to discuss.

Did the change affect ads?

The January 2018 post does not mention ads. Meta’s annual report (Form 10-K) for 2017 says it “recently announced changes to our News Feed ranking algorithm to help our users have more meaningful social interactions”. It expected those changes to reduce “time spent and some measures of user engagement with Facebook”, which could hurt its financial results. The same filing describes News Feed as a ranked mix of “stories and advertisements” and says other product changes may “adversely affect the distribution of content of publishers, marketers, and developers”.

That sentence does not say ad prices or ad delivery would change. Treat organic reach and paid delivery as separate, and judge your ads by their own results in Ads Manager.

What should you do now?

Do not plan around free reach alone. Meta’s 2018 post says the effect varies by Page and by how people respond to your content. If a Page post works, you can put budget behind it as an ad, which is a separate product from organic reach. If a post asks people to comment just to boost it, Meta said in 2018 that it would keep demoting such posts.

FAQ

Did the update remove Pages from News Feed?

No. Meta said Page posts would still appear in News Feed, though there may be fewer of them. It also said the update was not the same as the recent tests that moved all Page content to the Explore tab, so Pages stayed part of the feed.

How can followers see my Page posts first?

In 2018 Meta pointed people who want more posts from Pages they follow to See First in News Feed Preferences, which keeps those Pages at the top. That is how Meta described it then, so check Meta’s current Help Center for where the setting sits now.

Is asking people to comment a good way to rank higher?

Meta said using “engagement-bait” to goad people into commenting is not a meaningful interaction and that it would continue to demote such posts. Its examples of posts that rank higher were ones that start real discussion, such as a live video or a recommendation request from a friend.