You sit down at your desk or kitchen table, open a new browser and sign into Facebook. Starting from the top of the page, you scroll down, scanning through items in your Facebook stream as you go. Some status updates catch your eye, as may a new photo album or quiz. But with a few hundred or so Facebook friends, there’s no way you’ll ever have time to go through everyone’s posts in your Facebook stream, right?
Well, you don’t have to.
Because Facebook – much like Google – has an algorithm that applies to your Top News feed and affects what updates, postings, links and such are added to your stream.
Facebook EdgeRank
This algorithm, called EdgeRank, applies to your Top News feed only. Those of you who view your stream with the Most Recent filter will see exactly that – the most recent updates. However, Top News is the default unless changed by the user.
EdgeRank rates all status updates, links, photos, videos, comments, likes and polls, and the resulting score determines whether or not an update, link, photo, video, comment, like or poll will be added to your Top News stream.
3 Components of EdgeRank
Facebook’s algorithm is comprised of 3 factors: Affinity, Weight and Time Decay.
Affinity
– This relates to how much you interact with your other friends. Quite simply put, you’re much more likely to see posts from your best friend, whose wall you visit and whom you regularly interact with, than some former high school classmate who friended you and you haven’t connected with since.
Weight
– Each type of posting bears a different weight. Photos and videos are high on the importance chart, whereas Likes are near the bottom. A status update that receives multiple comments can increase in “weight”, too, due to the interaction by your friends.
Time Decay
– Â The older something is, the less likely it is to appear in the Top News stream.
Check the EdgeRank of your Facebook Fan Page
Now that you know what EdgeRank is and the basics of the components that comprise the algorithm, you may be curious to know your own EdgeRank score. EdgeRank Checker offers a free (as well as paid version) tool that estimates your score on a scale from 1 to 20+ (anything 20 or higher is considered “Excellent”).
EdgeRank Checker provides you a score by week, month or year, and – if you choose the paid option – provides more in-depth analytics (beyond what is shown below) like the number, type and time of day for your posts.
Were you aware that Facebook decides what updates you are shown? Have you previously checked your EdgeRank score?
I didn’t know this. I thought I saw everything.
Good grief! How easy is this? Thank you so much! Now, how to apply this useful information…
Thank you! I am checking it out now!
Interesting, I never knew that! Will go check it out.
Yes, I was aware that Facebook decides what updates I see, but only knew about the first reason – my recent interactions with those friends’ pages. I wasn’t aware of the EdgeRank Checker tool. Thanks!
Oh man, I’m sure my FB fan page has cobwebs and dust…
I have worked hard at upping the opportunities that I will be seen on the news feed. I have done so by posting pictures and videos as well as my updates. I also be sure to visit and click on other’s pages and links, I also would click like, but it sounds like that is a small factor. I am also trying to help my bloggy friends by interacting on their pages as well.
Your score was a 65? Wow! I was happy mine was a 26.
Bernice
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I knew that FB didn’t show everyone everything but I didn’t realise you could check your visibility. That’s really interesting. I think my score might show that I spend way to much time on FB though!
I knew there was an algorithm, but I didn’t know about Edgerank. I’ve always been more accustomed to Facebook than Twitter, so this is something I am going to check out right away. You ladies are awesome!
My score must be horrible! I’m not very good at getting people to interact with me on my FB page. On Twitter, I seem to be just fine with typing whatever comes to mind. On FB, I second guess most things and then hit delete anyway. I need to step it up and maybe reaching for a decent score will help that.
I appreciate the advice and shared knowledge!