Facebook Edgerank; What Is It and Why Should You Care.

Everything you post may not be seen by everyone thanks to Facebook Edgerank. It is true, even though you are pressing a share button, and wanting everyone to know what you just said there is a possibility that it will not display on everyone’s Facebook. Facebook calls this Edgerank. More specifically Facebook Edgerank is what Facebook uses to decide what you see, and what you do not see. The same way Google and Bing use an algorithm to determine what you see, Facebook uses your preferences and engagement in other pieces of information and updates to gauge what you want to see. They do this to increase user experience and make the time you spend on Facebook more enjoyable.

So why should I care about Facebook Edgerank?

Well this is an easy question. You see if everything you post is not seen then you are wasting your time even posting it. If you are a business then you are burning the most valuable asset that you have available to you. Time.

There are a few things that will decrease or increase your Facebook Edgerank that most people do on a regular basis.

1. User engagement, or what Facebook calls “affinity”. This is basically how engaged your audience is with your posts. Posting and getting no response or a bad impression rate over and over will decrease your rank, while getting good user interaction will increase it.
2. Popularity or “weight”. When you post gets shared, your rank goes up, when someone from your friends friend list comments on your post, it goes up. How popular are the posts you are posting?
3. Freshness of the posts or how recent and relevant your posts are. If you are posting about a recent event that everyone else is talking about then it is relevant in Facebook’s eyes.  This in turn causes your Facebook Edgerank to go up.

What are some things I can do to make my Facebook Edgerank go up so I am not wasting my time?

–          Creating posts that encourage interaction, or getting a response out of your posts.

–          Post often, but not too often, well timed posts keep your content fresh, but over posting can be a negative.

–          Encourage tagging, this is a form of interaction and Facebook loves it.

–          Ask people to share your posts. This is a big deal for Facebook Edgerank.

–          Post videos and pictures, Facebook loves these and so do fans.

Simply put in order to get a better rate and keep your brand in your fans streams you have to make sure you are doing the things that get people involved. You have to be writing just the right copy and you have to encourage and gain interaction. Facebook Edgerank is here and you should cater to it to ensure your posts are productive.

Additional Links about Facebook Edgerank

Quora Post about Facebook Edgerank
Mashable’s take on Facebook Edgerank