Did Facebook Places Just Cut Facebook Page Growth By 50 Percent?

If you are the administrator of Pages you've possibly noticed that at some point earlier this week, the growth of your Facebook Page began decreasing (or at least the average reach of each of your Page's feed stories). The reason appears to be that Facebook has decreased the overall weight of Facebook Pages in the feed. We believe that this may have been a result of the introduction of Facebook Places which has become prominently displayed within user feeds since it launched on Wednesday evening. After looking at the growth of the top Facebook Pages we've noticed that on the 18th (the day that Facebook Places was launched), Facebook Page growth dropped by over 50 percent on average. This is a dramatic change which will surely effect all Facebook Page administrators. While much of the Facebook Page growth experienced by organizations and individuals is accomplished through advertising and other forms of promotions, Facebook Page growth was also a result of organic growth. Every time a user commented on a feed story, the likelihood that the story would be displayed in other users' feeds increased. That's why many Page administrators have invested a significant amount of effort into increasing on-Page engagement. Granted, Facebook does not guarantee any amount of organic growth, however major changes in the feed algorithm can have a dramatic impact. This form of change is akin to Google changing their Page Rank algorithm. However the primary difference here is that it doesn't appear as though any Page administrators have benefitted from this change. In contrast, for every Google Page Rank algorithm adjustment tends to increase exposure for some sites while simultaneously decreasing the exposure for others. The only conclusion we can derive as of right now is that Facebook adjusted the company's feed algorithm to increase the priority of Facebook Places stories at the expense of Facebook Pages. We've reached out to Facebook for more information and will be sure to update the post if we hear back from them. I've also posted an image below of a chart of the growth of the official Facebook Page and how it changed. You can view more charts for comparison via our Facebook Page statistics area. Have you seen a similar decrease in your Facebook Page story impressions?

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Did Facebook Places Just Cut Facebook Page Growth By 50 Percent?

Nick O'Neill

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Nick O'Neill