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Robyn Hardman, Digital Consultant
Feel the Love – Facebook Reactions Now More Important than Likes
The simple Facebook ‘like’ has had its time in the spotlight, but it’s time to move over – posts that use more of the other reactions are more likely to reach a wider audience.
Facebook’s algorithm now prioritises posts that have accrued more reactions, which include Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry, over those that have received plenty of Likes.
In a recent statement, Facebook said: “Over the past year, we’ve found that if people leave a reaction on a post, it is an even stronger signal that they’d want to see that type of post than if they left a Like on the post. So we are updating News Feed to weigh reactions a little more than Likes when taking into account how relevant the story is to each person.”
Apart from the obvious emotion tied to leaving a reaction on a post, reactions are important because it takes someone longer to leave one – they need to either press or hover over the Like button to select the reaction they want, rather than simply clicking. Therefore, by Facebook’s reckoning, more weight deserves to be given to the reactions, because users are obviously giving them more consideration.
Out of all of the reactions, Facebook found that Love is the most popular, which has accounted for around half of all reactions since they were launched.
We're fans of Facebook’s reactions for many reasons, and not just because they signal greater user intent. Reactions offer instant feedback for brands and are a great way of gauging how effective your posts are. They also provide plenty of opportunity to have some fun with your Facebook posts and to develop a variety of engaging campaigns.
We’re excited to see what possibilities this could bring – better ad optimisation and targeting options are high on our wishlist – so we’ll give Facebook a great big ‘Love’ on this one.
Sorting out your social? Check out our other blogs:
- The future of PR in a Facebook era
- Instagram hits 18 million followers – what does that mean for your social plan?
- Not a shot in the dark: how dark posts on Facebook can improve your advertising strategy
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