Conspiracy Time: Facebook Reactions Affect Engagement and Exposure

[Brian Michael West]

So I've been quietly wondering lately about Facebook reactions and whether they may affect your post's engagement and exposure.

The question: Do you think "Angry" and "Sad" reacted posts are pushed down in the Facebook algorithm to reduce negative content on feeds? I'm a firm believer that Facebook has dopamine targets to keep people hooked and have the addictive urge to scroll and consume. A negative post would naturally be pushed down, right? Food for thought.

(In other words, post quality and unique content that promotes happy engagement from the correctly targeted audience)

 

[Zach Houseknecht]

If it's anything like YouTube - it's valued the same or near the same as if they were "Thumbs Up" or other happy reactions. At least for a long time YouTube's algorithm promoted these "negative" videos the same way because they got engagement - not based on whether or not the engagement had good or bad reactions.

That being said - for this industry - I agree wholeheartedly that we should be creating positive content that engages people and gets thumbs up and happy reactions.

 

[mbloom19]

I'm sure there is validity in your thought that the algorithm is programmed to push down negative content to keep the user experience positive however why would a business even think to publish negative content?

 

[Brian Michael West]

I'm sure there is validity in your thought that the algorithm is programmed to push down negative content to keep the user experience positive however why would a business even think to publish negative content?

the amount of pages that post things just for shock value to replace lack of normal engagement is sad.

 

[Brian Michael West]

If it's anything like YouTube - it's valued the same or near the same as if they were "Thumbs Up" or other happy reactions. At least for a long time YouTube's algorithm promoted these "negative" videos the same way because they got engagement - not based on whether or not the engagement had good or bad reactions.

That being said - for this industry - I agree wholeheartedly that we should be creating positive content that engages people and gets thumbs up and happy reactions.

Positive, quality, and custom content is definitely where it's at.

 

[John.H]

Oh absolutely.


If Facebook uses similar metrics to assess the quality of advertisements, they're likely using identical metrics on the back-end geared towards organic content.

For example - the metrics you see above are from an old subprime advertisement we ran with a dealer partner. Once fatigue set in and our ad began receiving Angry & Sad reactions, our quality score tanked. (this is common with running ads in the special finance sector)

As a result our cost per lead became incredibly expensive ($15-$20 a piece)

We refreshed the campaign with new creatives and are seeing a much better quality score:



Food for thought.

 

[digital_gangster]

Oh absolutely.
View attachment 4314

If Facebook uses similar metrics to assess the quality of advertisements, they're likely using identical metrics on the back-end geared towards organic content.

For example - the metrics you see above are from an old subprime advertisement we ran with a dealer partner. Once fatigue set in and our ad began receiving Angry & Sad reactions, our quality score tanked. (this is common with running ads in the special finance sector)

As a result our cost per lead became incredibly expensive ($15-$20 a piece)

We refreshed the campaign with new creatives and are seeing a much better quality score:

View attachment 4315

Food for thought.

Excellent feedback on this topic. I was wondering the same thing while watching similar metrics on my Ads Manager. Even though Facebook would not want to promote negative content, when it added all the options to engage, what else would it before other than the algo?

 

[Brittany]

Just another random thought, but Facebook thrives on the controversial topics being shared. Polarizing posts get so much engagement - both positive and negative - that I assume Facebook doesn't try to push it down.