Facebook EdgeRank and the Importance of News Feed Optimization

What is Facebook EdgeRank, and why is it important for marketers and community managers? EdgeRank is an algorithm that determines the rank of objects in the Facebook News Feed. Pages, and content, with high EdgeRank Scores will be more likely to show up in the news feed, than Pages with low EdgeRank Scores.

Similar to search engine optimization, understanding Facebook’s ranking algorithm will allow social media marketers to better optimize their content and communities to ensure consumers see their messaging. (i.e News Feed Optimization)

Facebook’s EdgeRank is made up of 3 variables:

1. Affinity – Affinity is dependent on a user’s relationship with the friend, or brand page, and the created item.
2. Weight – Weight is determined by the type of content that is created. (Photos, events, post, etc)
3. Time Decay.  Time Decay is determined by how recently a content item was created.

EdgeRank is the reason consumers may not see every post from a branded page. The more consumers interact with a page and its content, the more likely they will see content from that page in the future.

The ranking algorithm is also why I preach the importance of Quality over Quantity. When using paid media to grow your fan base, or offering discounts and coupons, you limit the interactions consumers have with your brand. And, if your continued content development is not engaging you are left with a community that rarely sees your posts.

For a more in-depth understanding of Facebook EdgeRank, you may be interested in the following video from Shoutlet U that explains the factors and provides some tips for better EdgeRank.

If you have questions about EdgeRank, how to optimize your content, or suggestions please share them in the comments below.