The good old social media feeds are nearly dead and have been watered down over the years with pages, groups, stories, communities, and now spaces.
If you haven’t seen it recently Twitter began doing Communities and LinkedIn started with its own newsletter feature and products tab. Instagram and Facebook added reels which was a whole new stream in itself.
Many of these latest features are for mobile devices only like Instagram highlights. Now spaces are popular on Twitter. What will happen to the old newsfeeds? Will they become obsolete social media feeds?
I’m beginning to think so as we are into 2023. How will small businesses keep up with all these social media changes?
Table of Contents
The Facebook Social Media Feed Has Been Dead For A While
If you go onto Facebook today you have choices on how to view your Facebook newsfeed. You can just view videos that draw in a lot of ad revenue for Facebook.
Facebook says it rewards organic reach to posts that drive discussion and hold users’ attention, after all, videos do that. If you have a Facebook page, you will find videos receive more views than other types of posts.
The Facebook algorithm controls the ordering and presentation of posts, so users see what is most relevant to them. Having your posts shared by others helps in this algorithm and reach of your posts.
Rather than publish content chronologically, posts and ads are presented based on what Facebook sees as relevant to you, the user. Facebook also prefers you don’t share all links in your Facebook posts.
Unique content wins over any link type of post. And in 2024 political news posts will be pushed further down the chain.
You Can Choose Facebook Groups vs. the Main Newsfeeds
Groups have become the rage on Facebook. But how is the algorithm working for these other newsfeed options? Well, according to Agorapulse the Facebook group’s reach is much better than a page’s reach today.
Some of the tips from them include:
- Offer exclusive content in the Facebook Group.
- Answer questions from the group.
- Share faces behind the brand.
But if you do start your own Facebook Group be prepared to devote time to it! You will have to moderate and respond to comments quickly. (Having more than one person manage a group would be a smart move!)
Remember, it’s either time or money. Right now, Facebook is not using Group ads but I bet it may be on the radar!
Twitter Lists Keep You Off the Main Twitter Feed
Twitter, there have been Twitter lists for years. It’s a great way to stay focused on Twitter X, especially in this past year.
You can make your lists private or public. You can add or delete people at any time as needed.
However, you do have options with your Twitter newsfeeds. You can pick your favorite topics that will change your algorithm. Go to your settings and explore areas to see all the latest options.
You can even change what you see when you click on a tweet – there is an option to say you are not interested in this tweet. Another way to change your own algorithm.
The above example shows how you can change your timeline/algorithm!
Now Twitter has rolled out “spaces.”
What Are Twitter Spaces?
Spaces are a place to come together, built around the voices of the people using Twitter, your Twitter community.
Spaces are live for as long as they’re open; once ended, they will no longer be available publicly on Twitter. The first rollout is for those with the IOS platform. I’ll have to wait here as I’m on Android. But you can sign up too! (Unless you have a private/protected Twitter account.)
However, there is a limit of 10 people per space that can speak. Yes, these Twitter spaces will be audio. Twitter will review them and suspend anyone who violates their space rules.
This newer feature takes away from the social media feed of Twitter as people are on spaces more and off the main feed.
What About The Instagram Algorithm?
Instagram is another interesting social media network. The algorithm here is based solely on engagement.
According to Instagram itself “What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc.
It sounds like another secret sauce recipe, doesn’t it? But wait, there is more. What about the stories and reel feed? Yes, is your head spinning yet? Welcome to my world of managing social media 🙂
One thing I’ve read recently that is of utmost importance: Spending time on Instagram for at least 5 minutes a day and that is commenting on others’ posts and sending messages. Do not just post your “stuff” on Instagram and go running off elsewhere.
Social Media Feeds for Pinterest
If you read my last post here it was inspired by my not spending time on Pinterest as much in the coming year with their algorithm changes. Not even Tailwind could make a difference anymore.
The highest month of views was over 110,000 and then it dropped to under 50,000 with the new Pinterest algorithm. Pinterest was not the main driver of traffic here back in 2022.
However, this has changed in 2024 by using more ‘right” size images as well as creating video pins. My Pinterest traffic has grown back to over 85,000 monthly views once again.
The pins last longer than any other social post media you create today.
LinkedIn Algorithm Also Changed
LinkedIn had some significant changes in its newsfeed algorithm. Ross Simmonds explained this well in a blog post
“Your content is essentially being served up to a SMALL batch of people who you’re connected to as a test and if those people ENGAGE, it’s then passed along to Editors (Real People) to determine whether it should continue to be shown to the masses.”
The more your content is shared in the small group of your contacts, the more it goes out in front of more people on LinkedIn.
So LinkedIn basically followed in Facebook’s footsteps of how posts are shared and seen. It all comes down to the engagement factor.
YouTube Algorithm Updated
Now, YouTube has changed its newsfeed many times over the years and as it’s owned by Google it is more of a secret sauce. It’s a “real-time feedback loop that tailors videos to each viewer’s different interests.” YouTube decides who will be shown videos.
They watch user behavior and see if people are watching, sharing, or commenting on the content. So even YouTube is about engagement. The new SHORTS feature is all the rage on this social network. Who has time to watch long videos anymore?
You can use certain keywords and descriptions to help your videos be shown in the YouTube search though. A great tool to use to help you is called Tube Buddy which you can try for FREE.
It has helped me a lot this past year to have my videos optimized for the YouTube network.
Over To You: Social Media Feeds – Going Away?
Do you think the social media feeds are dead or will they be revived in the coming year? How else will the newsfeeds be changed? I’d love to know more in the comments below.
FAQs
A social media feed is the main place people go when signing into a social media network. It is where all the public posts appear.
They are a separate feed for people who have a common interest in a topic.
A social media feed used to be shown chronically. That was until algorithms took over. Now it’s like a secret sauce.
When a social media post has more engagement it may stay at the top of a social media feed.
Yes, they can affect your reach big time if you don’t get any views of your post on a social network.
Yes, you can boost on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Pinterest. You can also purchase ads on those networks and of course on Twitter.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Hi Lisa,
What an interesting article. I haven’t been paying attention to some changes on social sites lately. This really cleared my mind and I thank you.
I don’t think social media newsfeeds are dead, yep even on Facebook. Indeed lots have changed there but I still like to use it when I run ads. I do enjoy scrolling through the commercials quickly to see what my friends are up to. And I belong to some groups that I do enjoy if I don’t want to scroll.
Thanks for the info on Youtube, especially the link for Tube Buddy. I will check that out.
-Donna
Thank you Donna. Oh yes, there have been many changes on the various newsfeeds. It really hit me when I started to think about Facebook and Twitter and then realized it was not just those 2 social networks. Pinterest changed so much I gave up Tailwind with it. Like an earlier post I wrote, you can only be on so many of the networks before you lose productivity. I love Tube Buddy for YouTube, it really made a difference for me this year!
Thanks for coming by Donna and I hope you have a Happy New Year!
Very interesting read, Lisa. Personally, I prefer newsfeeds to all that other stuff. Call me old school. Will they be dead in the coming year? I doubt it, but I do think social media will continue to evolve. It will be interesting to see if the newer “non censored” apps will follow suit or retain newsfeeds (i.e. Mewe/Parler). Whichever direction it goes, I’m sure there will be a viewer for it all.
Hi Bren, I hear you on that but the newsfeeds are so distorted today you miss a lot. (especially on Facebook though lately not a lot to miss, lol) I’m trying to focus more on groups this coming year for business. It definitely will evolve a lot in 2021. I hope the alternative sites do NOT follow suite as that’s another reason to be on them, they are different. Thanks for your input on this one Bren and have a great day!