The Social Graph: Facebook & Google +
Facebook introduced its Open Graph platform in fall 2011. What Facebook wants to essentially do with this information is take everything you do online and put that onto Facebook.
It does this by seeing a user, identifying an action, and then pushing it as an object.
Looking at the comments at the bottom of the Business Insider article So What The Heck Is the ‘Social Graph’ Facebook Keeps Talking About? By Boonsri Dickinson, some feel that the social graph is too invasive. Ikiraly made a great point by stating that:
EdgeRank is an algorithm developed by Facbeook to govern what is displayed and how high on the News Feed. It has been found that 88% of Facebook users never return to fan a page once they’ve clicked the Like button. Instead, they see and engage with your content on their News Feed.
The three variables used to make up the algorithm are affinity, weight, and time decay.
Have you ever noticed that Facebook Friends do not appear on your news feed? That’s because of the EdgeRank algorithm and one of its variables: affinity.
Affinity measures the relationship between the viewing user and the creator of the story. The closer the relationship the high the score.
Posts also carry weight. The higher the weight, the higher the score. In order they rank:
1. Photos and Videos
2. Links
3. Plain Text Updates
Another variable in this algorithm is time-decay. The older the post is, the more it loses its value. This way the newsfeed will always remain fresh with recent news.
Broads Word Communications says that in order to improve a page’s edgerank, one must.
1. Keep it short. I usually like to keep it short because if it is too long, I don’t read it.
2. Be visual. I have to admit that when I post pictures, I get more likes. Maybe it is because we are visual creatures.
3. Ask for what you want. A few weeks ago I asked my Facebook friends to answer a question for me. To my surprise, I had a lot of engagement.
4. Post Daily. This is something that has been tough for me, because I feel that people might be annoyed that I am posting. But then again, Facebook is there for a reason, so they should be expecting people to post.
5. Be Relevant.
6. Be Timely. People engage with pages from 9pm-10pm. I engage with pages during lunchtime, and not really at night. I tend to stay away from social media at that time, and maybe it is because my eyes are tired at looking a screen.
However Google + is also an inevitable part of content marketing strategy. I've always felt that Google + was being forced upon us because I never saw much engagement on it. Yet, according to Copy Blogger, Google + may become more important than Facebook or Twitter. I still see this as unfair, but when an internet leader controls search algorithms, one must get with the game. The preferential treatment for Google + is something that annoys me because I understand why we need to continue to use a social network that we don't like. To me it seems like we companies are pushed to use Google +, whether they have engagement or not because it helps them in page ranking.
How do you feel about Google +? Do you feel like it is forced on us?
What kind of content on Facebook do you engage with most?
Do you ever visit a page after you've liked it?