Understanding Facebook's Explore Feed
If you type ‘Facebook’ into Google News, it is likely that the first few result pages are peppered with articles about the Explore feed. With titles like “Facebook Thinks So Little of Us” and the use of choice words like “catastrophic”, “banish” and “buried” being thrown around, it’s no surprise that this new feed has thrown Facebook Business Page admins into a tizzy. Now that everyone has had a little more than a week to digest Facebook’s announcement, we’re taking a look at what this new feed could mean.
Facebook began testing the Explore feed on mobile devices in the US earlier this year. For the past few months nothing really changed with the status of development or how the Explore feed would affect users. Facebook threw it into gear on October 18th though, when they announced the official roll out of the Explore feed on mobile and desktop devices in the US.
If you are trying to find the feed for yourself on mobile, the Explore feed is in the main navigation under the “More” menu. If you are on a desktop, the feed (if you have it already) is found in the left sidebar, under the “Explore” section. This is also where there are links to other Facebook features like Events, Groups, Pages, etc.
The idea behind the Explore feed is to create a place where users have access to content that Facebook thinks they would find interesting. The Explore feed would be populated by recommended content including articles, photos, videos and posts from Facebook pages, publishers and news organizations that a user hasn’t followed yet. This new feed won’t include anything from a user’s friends or from Pages that they already follow.
Facebook uses an algorithm to fill your Explore feed with content similar to things that you have already liked or things that are popular among your network of friends. The company’s end-goal is to increase a user’s time on their site or app, therefore being able to serve more ads between content and ultimately, further monetizing the system.
This news has left Facebook Business Page admins grasping for more details on how it will directly impact their visibility. The important thing to note is that this announcement should not be cause for alarm, especially not at this time. It is possible that the introduction of this new feed could actually help your Page.
As of right now, the Explore feed is not replacing the News feed, which remains the landing page for Facebook users. Anyone who has already Liked your page will still see your content. To navigate to the Explore feed, users have to follow steps and actively select the feed to be redirected.
The introduction of this new feed could actually mean that Facebook users that Like content similar to yours might now be served your content within their Explore feed. While it is hard to have substantial proof this early in game, this could be a huge opportunity for your Page’s growth.
At TargetMarket, we are always keeping an eye on what is happening in the digital world. New things roll out every day in our industry and it is our job to make sure your brand stays relevant. It will be interesting to find out more about the Explore feed as more information becomes available and we are excited to see how it can help us further enhance our clients’ strategies.
