What is Facebook’s Edge rank?

By Unknown - Thursday, 22 August 2013 No Comments
If you have used Facebook much, you have probably realized that the social networking authority has implemented some serious changes.  Every time something new is put into operation by Facebook I hear a lot of complaints from general users about how the changes messed up a perfect social platform; however, from the business point of view I knew immediately that Facebook’s Edge Rank would be very beneficial for businesses.  Edge Rank is a scoring system based on the algorithms that Facebook uses to determine which objects show up in the News Feed.  In other words, it is the attempt to optimize the news feed to show relevant content to users. 


Much like the search engines, Facebook is trying to please their users rather than catering to internet-based businesses.  This is a good thing for business owners that take the initiative to understand and work the elements of Edge Rank to their favor.  The playing field on this social media giant is no longer even.  Understanding the scoring system and implementing changes to your participation on Facebook has the potential of putting you ahead in the game.

How Does Edge Rank Work?
Algorithms are pretty complex, but when it comes to Edge Rank, the formula is rather simple.  It figures in three variables to score postings to decide what shows up in a user’s news feed.  First it considers the affinity score between the user and the creator of the edge.  Second, it gives weight to the type of edge that is created, and third it considers time based on how long it has been since the edge was created.  Understanding these three elements will help you to improve visibility of your company on Facebook. 
Let’s explore the formula more precisely…

The definition of affinity is simply attraction or liking of a certain thing.  The creator of the edge is a person who responds to a status update (likes, tags, comments on, or shares it with others).  In a nutshell, the affinity score is based on the relationship between the viewer and the person that responds to a post.  Therefore, status updates that are likable and evoke comments and sharing are prime factors in your social media marketing campaign. 

The weight is related to the response that is involved.  For instance, a viewer can create, comment on, like, tag, or share a post.  While the weighting function has been kept pretty secret for now, it makes total sense that a comment holds more weight than a like and so forth.  At any rate, any response holds value for you, the creator of a status update, because responses create an edge.  The edge means more exposure for the post.    

The time factor is pretty simple to understand.  The longer that it has been since an edge was created, the less important it becomes.  Engaging your readers becomes even more important.  The more discussion that surrounds a status update, the longer it will be of advantage to you. 

What Does Edge Rank Mean to You?
When it comes to internet marketing in general you can take changes like a grain of salt or you can focus on mastering techniques to take full advantage of the new concepts as they arise.  When social media was first introduced, there was a lot of controversy over whether or not participating in social media marketing would hold value for a business.  Here at Leap Go, marketing in the social media arena has been very beneficial with Facebook and Twitter being top of the list in the social platforms.  We suggest to our clients to take full advantage of the marketing potential of Facebook by finding out more about how Facebook’s Edge Rank affects your marketing efforts.

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