A Likely Story

In the same way Google uses page rank to determine what shows up in your search results, Facebook uses something called an edge rank to determine what shows up in your newsfeed.

Whenever anyone interacts with any object in your newsfeed, Facebook creates an “edge.” The ranking of this edge is broken down into three parts: affinity (how often your posts are LIKED or commented on), weight (videos are best, pictures are better, text is plain boring) and age (the more recent, the better.)

So, here’s how to get a higher edge rank and have your posts show up more often on your friends’ feeds (and you thought the popularity contest was over in high school!):

• Don’t  simply STALK (Hilary! and Eve!). Commenting and Liking is what increases your affinity. If you’re interested in seeing someone’s status more,  go to her page and comment on some of her stuff.  Don’t just sit around waiting for Facebook to serve up something in your feed.
• Comment on your friends’ comments one at a time. Each comment increases your edge rank.  Don’t wait to consolidate into one big “thank you” comment.
• Provide links, preferably videos. Videos and pics will increase your weight.

Finally, realize that all of this is a sheer numbers game. You are competing with the “popular” Facebook kids who have 600+ “friends” and make a career out of commenting and linking. Here’s how to have some control:

1. On your Home page, click on the little blue arrow next to “Most Recent.”
2. Choose “Edit Options.”
3. Next to “Show Posts From,” click “All of your friends and pages.”  Note:  this is also where you can see all the friends whose posts you’ve hidden.
4. Click Save.

Ultimately, if you want to make sure that your friends know about an important event in your life, send them an email. Wait, you do still have your friends’ email addresses, don’t you?

Tags: affinity, commenting on posts, edge rank, Facebook, Facebook newsfeed, Facebook stalking