I have watched, sadly, over the years, as Facebook has withdrawn its impartiality with regard to posts. With each subsequent change, Pages’ posts are seen less and less by the people who have “liked” them, and therefore might justifiably wish to see news from those Pages!
Summed up perfectly in this Wall Street Journal article. While it makes sense that businesses might be expected to pay for advertising, tiny businesses trying to get started were greatly aided by the grassroots connection of Facebook, years ago. But no longer. The free years seem to be behind us!
“New Facebook Rules Will Sting Entrepreneurs”
“Steals in the Shop! I have a TON of new 36-inch-long necklaces, most priced at $15, available in amethyst, lapis, watermelon tourmaline, turquoise…. Shop them all here,” she wrote in a recent marketing post on a Facebook page for Earthegy, the business she runs from her home in rural Kent Store, Va. She also included photos and links to the products, hoping the business’s 70,000 Facebook fans would share the posts with their own Facebook friends.
But small-business owners like Ms. Bossie will soon get less benefit from the unpaid marketing pitches they post on Facebook. That’s because, as of mid-January, the social network will intensify its efforts to filter out unpaid promotional material in user news feeds that businesses have posted as status updates.
The change will make it more difficult for entrepreneurs like Ms. Bossie, the founder of four-year-old Earthegy, to reach fans of their Facebook pages with marketing posts that aren’t paid advertising.