What to know about the Facebook Algorithm before 2019

October 1, 2018

Written by NewsWhip
Facebook Rankings November 2020

Our latest report dives into the impact of the Facebook Algorithm, and which content creators are poised to take on 2019 with the latest trends in social publishing. 

What would happen to the way we currently find content, if we didn’t have Facebook?

At the Online News Association conference, Chartbeat explained the impact of Facebook going down for just 45 minutes on August 3rd, 2018.

In under an hour, overall traffic increased by 2.3 percent around the world.

Search traffic increased by 8 percent, direct traffic went up by 11 percent and there was an increase of 22 percent in traffic from other app opens.

Chartbeat data
This is quite a significant effect. After Facebook’s news feed shift this year was heralded as the end of days for social distribution and the duopoly, it’s interesting to see how much we do rely on Facebook for our discovery of news, media, and content.

In our latest report, we take a look at the “Year of the Facebook Algorithm Shift”, and the coming changes and trends to know ahead of 2019.

As we heard experts say at ONA 2018 this September, Facebook is still essential for new reader acquisition. 

Mark Alford, the head of digital at Sky News, said that it’s almost impossible to quantify exactly what the social networks provide, because “we can’t put a value on getting new people to see stuff.”

In the report we look at: 

  • How content creators have navigated the Facebook algorithm shift
  • The impact of the shift on the web vs. natively on Facebook
  • Trends to know ahead of 2019

As we’ve seen in our monthly Facebook publisher rankings, there have been publishers who have seen gains this year. Looking at a composite of the top 25 sites in August across our NewsWhip Analytics platform, we can see just how drastically these sites have thrived in 2018.

Facebook growth Q3 2018
This has come down to a mix of stories that are relevant and relatable to audiences, everything from dissecting breaking news, to sharing the latest, wackiest product that reminds you of your best mate.

To put it simply, the stories themselves haven’t so much changed, but the delivery and the formats of those stories have.

Get up to speed here.  

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Regular updates from the NewsWhip team on the crises, trends, and stories that are resonating with the media and public around the web.