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You know there’s something going seriously wrong when complaints about your practices are reaching such interstellar levels that even a crew member of the USS Enterprise feels compelled to join the attack.
For quite some time now, Facebook has been attracting fierce criticism from deeply annoyed Business Page owners, with regard to the way that our posts and updates are only actually reaching a fraction of the fans who willingly chose to connect with us.
Now, even Mr Sulu (George Takei) from cult sci-fi phenomenon Star Trek has teleported down into the debate to vent his anger.
But does even a Starfleet Officer have the social media clout to push Facebook into a radical re-think?
Or is Mr Sulu more likely to have his phaser set to stun?
Much of the controversy and debate revolves around Edgerank, the complex algorithm used by Facebook to determine exactly who sees what in their personal news feeds.
For a more detailed insight into this mind-melting algorithm that’s causing all the trouble, beam yourself over to this earlier Blog article Falling from the Edge of Edgerank.
Essentially, we’re simply talking about your post visibility on Facebook.
Whilst it would be nice to think that every finely-crafted status update from your Business Page will be beamed into the news feeds of all your fans, the truth of the matter is that only a surprisingly small number of your fans will ever see them at all.
Alarmingly, this situation now seems to be getting steadily worse.
Since the recent introduction of Promoted Posts, it would appear that the average ‘audience reach’ of your usual everyday free posts has been dramatically declining (as I reported recently in this Newsdesk Story on the Martin Print Blog.)
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So, in other words, if you really want your Posts to reach the audience that your Business Page actually deserves, then you’re going to have pay for the privilege in the future.
It does seem incredibly unfair on all those people who have spent time and money on building up a healthy fan base, only to find that Facebook simply isn’t communicating our messages in the way that we’d hoped and expected.
Even some of the fans are getting annoyed about it.
After all, they pressed the LIKE button on your page so that they could keep updated and connected with your business.
It’s a bit of a disappointment for them when they suddenly discover that they’re actually missing out on most of the content that they signed up to see!
Now it’s the turn of George Takei to express his strong disapproval.
Takei may be familiar to sci-fi fans as the face of Hikaru Sulu in the original 60’s series of Star Trek, and the huge hit film series that followed.
But these days, he’s something of a Social Media Juggernaut, and his Facebook page alone boasts nearly three million fans.
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Even non-Trekkies enjoy following the former Mr Sulu on Facebook and Twitter, simply because he’s one of the genuine frontrunners on the scene when it comes to sharing cracking new content.
But Takei is painfully aware that, despite nearly three million people choosing to press the LIKE button and connect with his page, his highly anticipated posts are only actually reaching a tiny fraction of that figure.
It’s a problem that he takes the opportunity to discuss in his forthcoming book Oh Myyy! which purports to be about life, the internet, and everything.
In this video report from Mashable, it is implied that Takei devotes a whole chapter of his new book to raging against the injustice of Edgerank, although very recent comments from the man himself suggest that the chapter in question is still being written.
But whatever the final publication will eventually reveal, it’s clear that Takei, along with millions of other Page Admins on Facebook, are less than happy with the current situation.
So, does George Takei have the power to influence the future of Business Pages on Facebook and steer post visibility back in the right direction?
Very probably not – although this kind of high-profile rant can certainly help draw attention to the cause.
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But perhaps Takei’s very public disapproval is symbolic of the growing resentment from Page Admins which has become far more widespread and vocal than the Facebook chiefs ever bargained for.
I strongly suspect that the dissenting voices are only going to increase in volume over the coming weeks and months…
It will be interesting to see just how this story develops in the near future.
Will Facebook eventually see sense and increase the visibility of free posts to a much more acceptable level?
Or will they continue to try and squeeze as much money as possible from the new Promoted Posts, perhaps eventually provoking a mass exodus from Facebook, as everyone decides to switch loyalties to a more sensible and rewarding Social Media platform?
In fact, could this be the beginning of the end for Facebook?
I sincerely hope not.
We’ve all come such a long way with this unique and powerful platform, it would be such a shame to start ruining it now.
In the meantime, if you’re not so keen on the idea of paying money on Promoted Posts to connect with your own fans, then remember to keep engaging with as many of them as you possibly can, whilst encouraging engagement (in the shape of comments and ‘likes’) on your own page.
Fans who engage with your business page are far more likely to see your updates pop up in their news feeds. As ever, the key to this crucial engagement lies in producing great regular content.
But let’s not hope that we’re not going to be waiting several light years for Facebook to adopt a more realistic and fair approach with your post (in)visibility…
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