4 Reasons why Facebook’s Changes are Good.

Posted by Kevin on Jun 19, 2012 in Ramblings | 2 comments

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter about some of the changes Facebook has made. Most of it bad. And while I agree that Facebook is about as reliable as a politician telling the truth, I happen to like some of the changes they’ve made. If you are a foodie blogger, or a blogger in general, here’s why I think some of these changes are good for us.

 

1. Timelines for Business Pages.

• Why People Hate it: Because it’s something new and we are used to seeing and managing our pages a certain way.

• Why this is good: I think there is more flexibility to share the things that you want. For example, I love the fact that I can pin an update to the top, or create a milestone. These are some valuable tools for bloggers to use.

 

2. The “Promote Button”

• Why people hate this: FACEBOOK JUST WANTS TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF US! HOW DARE THEY!

•  Why this is good: As a small, insignificant foodie blogger, I don’t have the fame of Anthony Bourdain or Emeril, nor the deep pockets of Food Network, to drive people to my page. So the fact that I can pay $5 to promote a post to 700 people is a deal for me. It’s also easier than buying a Facebook ad (which is confusing in and of itself) that I then pay-per-click. I pay $5 and the post goes out. Now, I have not used this function yet, but I plan to in the near future. As a small business owner, I can use this marketing tool to test what posts work and what doesn’t work, all without spending hundreds of dollars just to run a test campaign.

 

3. The “# of People Reached” under each post.

 

• Why people hate this: “Why do I care? And why should Facebook tell me this? It’s annoying.”

 

• Why this is good: If you are writing a blog trying to sell a product or a service, then this is crucial information. I did a little research on this to see what this number actually means. What I found was really encouraging. Basically, that number you see is a real number. The number shows how many people have actually seen that post. I don’t know how that works, or how they get that number and I really don’t care. I have no clue how a car engine works, I just care that it works. Same with this. This is a great way to measure, in real-time, what your fans/readers like and what they don’t. You can then adjust your marketing accordingly. Neat-o. Click here for the article where I got this info from.

 

 

4. The “Facebook is taking your posts out of people’s feed if they don’t interact with your page” complaint.

 

• Why people hate this: “Facebook has no right to choose who can and can not see my posts!”

 

• Why this is good: To the above statement I say, “And you have no right to force people to read your posts.” I can understand the frustration, as a reader and as a writer. But I think this is a good thing. As a reader/consumer, I have liked hundreds of pages, most of which I pay no attention too. Why? Mainly because they don’t keep my interest. I like to keep up with the blogs, companies and people who keep my interest. The reality is, most blogs don’t do this. They get caught up in writing stuff that is all about their likes. Nothing wrong with that, but your blog will never grow. If you want people to keep up with your blog, then write stuff that is interesting and on topics that your readers like. I see a lot of page owners asking their readers to like a post and change the settings so their page will continue to show up in feeds. Doing this once is OK. But asking people over and over? Personally, I think it’s the worst thing to do. “Facebook is making changes again. If you do not interact with my page, Facebook will drop my posts from your feed! Please like this post, share it with others, post a reply, and tell me how much you love me because I’m feeling really needy right now!!” It’s like girls posting a picture of themselves, and saying, “I’m ugly”,  just to fish for a compliment. Well, fish away baby, fish away for every compliment you can get!

 

In short, as bloggers we need to make sure we keep our blogs focused on our readers. This doesn’t mean that you write about stuff you don’t like. It just means every post and every blog you write should have your reader in mind. And when it comes to Facebook, I see a very real danger in putting all your eggs in one basket. If you are relying on Facebook as your marketing bread and butter, you are in danger. If Facebook ever goes belly up (highly unlikely), or another social media site becomes the rage (very likely, myspace who?), then you just lost all your eggs. Make sure you spread out over a few social media outlets. Then, and only then, can you stand a chance to grow.

 

What do you think? How do you use social media in your blogging?  Feel free to share any tips!

 

RSD