Why Facebook was in desperate need of a reboot and what could happen now.

Facebook's newsfeed has been an abomination for a number of years now. Way too much crap with video upon video of dogs on treadmills & cats jumping out of cars. Guys in their bedroom posting spurious stories to their own websites & blogs spreading fear & hate on the daily. Tag a mate memes, puke inducing motivational pictures. Just inane, strange nonsense that leaves people scratching their heads. What happened yesterday was a move to change that, to rebuild. So expect big changes. However Facebook realise that news & content from credible media brands is vital to retaining its audience. Facebook has become an incredibly confused mixed bag of manic messiness, but they will still want variety to be the spice of FB life. Businesses have been invisible for years now on Facebook & for company's big & small, it's been pay to play for years & I was surprised that people were shocked by that yesterday. 

Brands generally add little value to the newsfeed, but media companies do & will continue to do so after this algorithm shake up. One of the big changes in the last 5 years is that people don't post updates or photos like they used to. FB bought Insta & drove a huge amount of its audience from one to the other, resulting in the fact that the 27 year old who posts a picture of where they're on holiday or what they lifted in the gym today to Instagram are unlikely to also post to Facebook as they will have largely the same profile of friends to followers. So Facebook can enable you to see more from friends & family but the process of getting them to post more will be much more difficult.

In order to retain an informed & busy feed without all the fake news & gaudy videos, they will absolutely need high quality content & real news from credible publishers & media orgs. This is not a vested opinion, it's based on the way social media has evolved & the requirement for FB not to be left in a scenario where all you'll see is that your uncle has lost out on his accumulator by just one result again or that a schoolfriend who you've not spoken to in 15 years has finally gotten engaged. That is not a good user experience & that is not good for Facebook. Everyone's Ma & Da is on the platform now too (their ageing demographic, a problem to discuss another day) so the idea to see more from family is enough to send solid social shivers down the spine of your average 20 something.

They fucked up royally during the US election & the rampant spread of fake news is a major threat to their business, so they've got to come out & say something profound & Zuck, with a potential 2020 election play on the cards himself, has been cast as the messiah for change & because he will gain the most column inches to push the narrative around mental health. That's a good message too as the current feed pollutes, if they can clear that up, once and for all, it's better for everyone, including publishers, who can continue to thrive on the platform as long as the focus is on clever & creative content that excites & engages. 

Expect to see the rebirth of groups where tailored content can meet a tailor-made audience, a significant return to community management from Publishers in particular, and long term, a realistic realignment of KPI expectancy for everyone, from brands to media organisations around metrics around video views etc. There is potential also for individual's posts to go viral again in the same way that it can happen on twitter and journalist pages to come more into play. I can't see where Live fits in right now and up until this latest announcement, it has gotten a significant deprioritsation by the FB engineers for brands and Media owners while they figure out what they want Watch to be. Again, I'd imagine Live for individuals to potentially be a bigger focus. The caveat I'll end all of this with is that often Facebook has tried to implement big changes and within 12 months revert back to how it was, their philosophy of try, break and amend is a hallmark of their company values. So despite everything, don't be surprised if those cuddly, cute canines make a return to improvised use of gym equipment and get all up in your feed, a year from now again.