If You Ask for 'Likes' on Facebook, You're About to Get Clobbered The social network says it will crack down on spammy pages that try to game engagement and shares.
By Jason Fell
If your M.O. on Facebook has been to directly solicit likes and shares for your posts, or to post the same thing over and over again, you might want to reconsider.
Facebook says it is on a mission to clean up spam from the News Feed. The goal, it says, is to only show the content that is most relevant to readers.
Don't think your page is spammy? OK, although it might help know what Facebook is defining as spam, lest you get penalized and see your traffic die off.
There are three categories of spam Facebook says it is targeting in the News Feed. The first is called "like-baiting." It defines this as explicitly asking readers to like, comment or share a post "in order to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive."
While these types of posts can drive engagement, Facebook says responses to these posts show that readers find them 15 percent less relevant than other stories with comparable "Like" and share numbers.
Related: Want to Chat on Facebook? Soon, You'll Need a Second App for That.
Facebook is also coming down on "frequently shared content." While sharing and re-posting content on Facebook is encouraged, the company says users complain about brands and individuals who regularly upload the same photos or videos, over and over again.
Lastly, Facebook says it will be watching out for spammy links. This refers to pages that post "inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads," Facebook says.
In other words, don't bait and switch. It's annoying and not good for business.
Facebook says that any regular offender will likely see their distribution on the site decrease over the next few months. Meanwhile, Facebook says pages that don't post spam might actually see an increase in distribution.
Related: How to Build a Killer Facebook Page for Your Retail Company
