Use of a Feed aggregator (Networked Blogs, RSS Graffiti, Youtube self Posting, Twitter, etc) for Facebook Posting is keeping your Posts from being seen!
LOOK what is happening! Facebook is posting the BEST status updates (by their Edge Rank) or the first Networked Blogs post and then grouping the rest together. They have been doing this for awhile but now it’s really happening in a huge way. They are not just grouping all of one pages statuses together now Facebook is grouping ALL Feed aggregator blogs posts that I get in a given time period together.
What’s the impact when you use feed aggregator posting like Networked Blogs, RSS Graffiti, etc?
Your posts are NOT being seen by your intended audience and if advertisers are paying you to post, they aren’t getting their bang for their buck either. Mari Smith, everyone’s Facebook Guru,recommends against using a feed aggregator on a regular basis:
Just be careful of overly using third party apps to post all your content on your Page wall. Manual posts get the best EdgeRank (News Feed optimization).
(And then she further commented on her Facebook on April 25, 2011):
Did you know? Your content posted via third party apps may be hidden (collapsed) in the News Feed of your fans!! e.g. It’s best not to automatically publish your Networked Blog posts to your wall – your fans may not see the content in their News Feed. I definitely recommend you use the app for great SEO, but turn off the wall posting feature and manually share your new blog posts directly on your wall for better visibility and engagement. (Aside from the collapsed posts in the News Feed of your fans, third party app posts get slightly lower EdgeRank scores anyway… unfortunately!)
..
and now you can see why! Your page’s Facebook wall feed may not show that your posts are being being mushed in with all the other Networked blog feeds, or twitter feeds…so you may think that using your particular feed aggregator is no problem. It isn’t. See the example above and below.
What about Hoot Suite, a very popular tweet and post scheduler? I have not observed the stacking of Hoot Suite posts but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the same. Can anyone else confirm from their newsfeed?
Should you be using a Facebook Aggregator for posting your blog posts to Facebook?
Update April 2011:
Here’s an interesting quote dated April 11, 2011 from What’s Next Marketing, Check it out:
Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and other self-publishers use the 3rd Party API to provide their members the ability to post to Facebook Pages without going onto the site itself. Those services have even added the ability to schedule content to be auto-published at a later set time.
While very convenient for users, Facebook sees little reason to give this scheduled content a high EdgeRank weight. And why should they? Users aren’t going to the Facebook website, engaging with the infrastructure, or viewing Facebook Advertising. According to our recent research, manually posting content on Facebook, rather than via a 3rd Party API publisher like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, can increase its viewership as much as 300%!
UPDATE Feb, 2011:
Here’s some more information from MaAnna, owner of Blogaid, who wrote the an article on 3rd party APIs (feed Aggregators) called Google and Facebook changed and so must I.
Two of my fave folks to follow on Facebook are Denise Wakeman and Mari Smith. Recently, both have made several posts on the negative impact of using third party apps to auto-populate your Facebook business page with blog posts from your main site. The app-populated posts weren’t showing up in the fan’s News Feed consistently, and the ranking was devalued by Facebook….After making the changes, within two weeks my Facebook stats
nearly tripledquadrupled and they continue to keep going up.
Update: Feb. 2011
Denise Wakeman, from the Blog Squad weighed in with this additional information:
Here’s the link to my post in which I share why I’m giving up on automation to my Facebook page:
http://www.buildabetterblog.com/2011/02/im-giving-up-on-automation.htmlPlease note that I continue to use Social RSS to auto post to my Page, but NOT to my wall. If someone wants to see my latest blog posts they can click on the link in the left sidebar to see recent content.
The Chief Blonde recommends against it heavily, based on what she has observed on Facebook today!
UPDATE: May 2011
You can also increase your views on your Facebook Posts by 650% by stopping this practice of utilizing a feed aggregator. See this great article on NOT autoposting via third party APIs.
UPDATE 9/2011:
A Recent Mashable Article Reports that a study by Applum, creators of the Facebook Edgerank Checker, studied a million+ Facebook updates on over 50,000 Facebook Pages to test the hypothesis that posting to via Facebook third-party feed Aggregators won’t create the same interaction as posting manually to Facebook. Applum determined that utilizing ANY of the top ten feed aggregators resulted in 88% fewer comments and likes, when contrasted with manually posting to Facebook. WHY? It’s suspected that Facebook punishes feed aggregators in the complex Edgerank alogorithm . Often, Facebook updates from feed aggregators are smushed into ONE SINGLE FEED story. Although a couple of my blogger friends who use the feed aggregators have recently noticed that in their feed, Facebook has stopped this practice of collapsing all the feed into one.
UPDATE: 5/2012
Facebook just added the capability to preschedule your posts right in your Page’s status posts. SEO types are excited. No word yet on if this new function will help or hurt edgerank!
Facebook Link for details:
Was this post useful to you? Could you Stumble it or Like it (buttons just below)? The Chief Blonde love you too!
Deanna T. says
Extremely useful post. Thanks!
I stumbled you. Here’s my post:
mapleleafmommy.com/2011/04/review-envirosax-bags-from-giving-gifts.html
Oh and totally off topic, I love your new background.
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
Hi Deanna, Thanks for stopping in. Glad the post was useful to you. I change my background about every three days so stop in next week to check out what’s next. The chief BLonde!
Amethyst Moon says
I stumbled
Faith Still says
interesting thanks. Thanks for stumbling me. I stumbled you back.
Some Call It Natural says
Great post! I have noticed this lately and hence don’t do the rss thing on facebook.
P.S. I stumbled you! Will you stumble the post below on comment luv?
Keenly Kristin says
Thanks for stopping by! I’ve started doing this…thanks for the info!!! Stumbled ya!
Kristin 🙂
Crystal says
Stumbled- thanks for stumbling me too! 🙂 I’ve been reading about this but haven’t made the switch yet….. thanks for the reminder!
Katie Potter says
As a relatively new blogger, I appreciate you posting this! Thanks for letting me know. I’m stumbling back to your page. Thanks for stopping by mine. 🙂
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
No problem Katie! Sure Glad you stopped in. We have lots and lots of facebook tips (+lots of great giveaway!). Why not subscribe to our email so that you can find out all this neat stuff all the time?
The Chief Blonde!
Julia says
Thanks for the information! With the amount I post I’m not sure how easily I will be able to manually post, but this is very good to know and be aware of.
Thanks for stumbling by today and checking out some of the Frugal Tuesday Tips.
http://confessionsofafrugalmind.blogspot.com/
Elle says
Stumbled. And checked. It worked. Please stumble mine- simplewyrdings.com/2011/04/my-lilla-rose-hair-clip-came-in.html
You have my permission to stumble any other of my posts too:p
Sara says
Great tips! I stumbled this. My post is booksyourkidswilllove.blogspot.com/2011/04/reading-tools-and-tips-for-pre-school.html
Becky Jane says
It’s articles like these that are going to put blond jokes out of business…lol
Such a great mind behind this post.
Thanks, Becky Jane
Stumbled your post.
wheelchairdecor.blogspot.com/
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
Becky Jane,
THanks for you kind remark. I’ll be over to stumble you soon, if I haven’t already!
The CHief Blonde!
Grace says
That is really useful info and thanks so much for sharing. I’ve notice that my posts aren’t even being posted any longer by network blog so have been doing it myself.
I stumbled your post to get the word out and will share it via twitter and facebook.
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
Hi Grace, That’s what happened to me too. NB just stopped posting my stuff ages ago. The Chief BLonde!
Darcy says
Stumbled and had linked to this the other day 🙂
If you wouldn’t mind stumbling minedarcyandbrian.com/?p=2016
Thanks!
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
Thanks Darcy.
If I haven’t already, I’ll be over to stumble you Soon!
The Chief Blonde!
Becky Jane says
Lots of valuable information. Thanks for putting this altogether for us!
Stumbled your post!
Becky Jane
myelevenreasons.blogspot.com/
stillblondeafteralltheseyears says
Thanks Becky.
If I haven’t already, I’ll be over to stumble you Soon!
The Chief Blonde!
Robin says
I had no idea about this. I am on Networked Blogs, but I post all my crap….I mean my wonderful posts to my FB page manually, so I guess I’m ok. Until that changes.
Stumbled ya, Blondie.
Heather ~ Acting Balanced Mom says
Great information – I’ve been doing both- publishing to my wall with an aggregator and updating with links again later in the day to make sure people have seen it…
I stumbled your post, please consider visiting and stumbling Autism through the Eyes of a Special Needs Teacher
Jennifer Medeiros says
I stumbled you, my post is makobiscribe.com/2011/02/how-installing-alexa-tool-bar-will-help.html
Ourfamilyworld says
I read this post last week and I stopped using the 3rd party to post to my wall. Thank you for this great information.
I stumbled your post.
Here is mine
ourfamilyworld.com/blog/2011/04/16/egg-ceptional-activities-with-filled-plastic-easter-eggs/
A Divine Obsession says
Wow, interesting information, I don’t use networked blogs anyway, sometimes you get people you don’t want able to read your posts instead of going on your blog, where legally they are not allowed. But this is a great post, stumbled it, hope you stumble mine back….
Erika says
Very interesting – I had no idea! I will be posting manually to my wall from now on. Thanks for sharing this! I stumbled you, I hope you’ll visit me! 🙂
musingsfromasahm.com/2011/04/soap.html
Have a great day!
~Erika