So, you know when you post to your Facebook Page? What happens when you hit the “Post” button is a bit of mystery to everyone. You would think that your post will show up in the main Facebook stream of anyone who likes your page, but this is sadly not entirely true.
First of all, not everyone is on Facebook all the time. My friend Kate lives in Australia, and her schedule is almost exactly the opposite of mine, so she’s going to bed when I’m getting up. As well, many people are not allowed to be on FB at work. So there are lots of reasons why your post will not be seen.
But another reason is EdgeRank. Your FB post may or may not show up in your fan’s main FB stream based on a bunch of factors: what kind of a relationship you have with that fan, and what you are posting.
Let’s deal with the latter first. We all know that posting photos gets way more hits than a simple, text status update. Also, updates that get more ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ are also pushed higher in EdgeRank. In other words, the more popular you are, the more popular you become.
The second factor is your relationship with the fan. If you have had recent and frequent interactions with that person, chances are better that they will see your post than not.
Of course, anyone at any time can go to your page and see everything that you’ve posted there, but how often do we visit pages? Not that often… chances are, if it doesn’t show up in your stream, there’s not a great chance you’ll see it.
Why does Facebook do this?? Why is there such a thing as EdgeRank? Because FB needs to make money, and they do that by advertising. If they created a product where your message efficiently found everyone, they’d be out of business.
Check out this great infographic that also has tips at the end of how to improve your EdgeRank score.
Source: CopyPress