Likes and Shares Matter Even More Than We Thought: A Real Life Example of Facebook’s Algorhythms

A while back I shared with you a couple of videos pointing out how Facebook has dramatically changed the way that engagement happens with Pages.

Here’s some real-world data.

It becomes quickly obvious (the number of "Likes" the Alliteration Ink page hasn’t changed much in the two months) that the average "reach" (or as it says on the post page, "this post was served to [X] people") is the high teens to 20.

That middle "shared a link" is this post with eight likes and three shares.  The "preview of the amazing interior art" has two likes, and the "Free Marketing Gravy Chain" post (ironically) has one comment, and the fewest of the three exceptions to the high-teens pageviews noted here.

Yesterday, I announced that Alliteration Ink would be partnering with BitLit to bundle digital versions of books – even those already sold

Because I encourage authors in my anthologies to sell copies of the books (the money goes to that author), I asked each author to spread the word.  Knowing that Facebook had rigged the game, I also asked them to "like" or "share" the post on Facebook so their fans could see it.

As of this writing, there are ten likes and eleven shares.

Remember, "reach" is pageviews among people who already "liked" Alliteration Ink, and wanted to see my updates.

Someone with more data can crunch the exact impact of likes and shares.  The takeaway for me is simple:

People will not see what I post on Facebook unless I really harness a lot of help or make something total "likebait".

I can’t be the only one to have figured this out.   And this is not good news for small businesses and brands… or Facebook in general.