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Facebook Suggests Unfollowing Pages in News Stream

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With many businesses struggling with an already reduced organic exposure within the Facebook news feed thanks to their algorithm changes, Facebook appears to be testing something new that will reduce visibility even more.

According to ALL Facebook, they have a screenshot showing a pop-up that appears within the users news feed when they see a post from one of their Liked pages. It states “You’re following this Page – you can unfollow anytime to stop seeing posts.”

This change, especially if the test becomes permanent, is going to see Pages lose even more visibility within news feeds. Now, page administrators are going to have to worry that a single post that doesn’t quite hit the mark, or a single post that doesn’t gain the interest of someone who sees it in their news feed, could result in users unfollowing or unliking their Page at any time.

Of course, it could have the opposite effect and increase engagement on other Pages – after all, if someone has unfollowed multiple other Pages, it might increase the likelihood they will see yours. But it is a dangerous thing when Facebook is encouraging users to unfollow pages they have previously Liked – and some of those unlikes will be ones that were originally paid for via Facebook Ads.

It does appear to be an international test at this time.

What will this mean for those businesses running Pages on Facebook? First, they will need to ensure every single post they make it of the highest quality so someone is less likely to unfollow when prompted by Facebook. And second, and what the real issue likely is, that Facebook is doing this to reduce news feed exposure for pages so they will have to pay to get their posts in front of those who have already Liked it.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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