MENLO PARK, CA - A recently added feature on Facebook may be diminishing the value of Page Likes, according to TechCrunch’s Josh Constine. Could your company’s Facebook posts be in danger of not being seen by users?

To read Constine’s full article on TechCrunch, click here.

What is Facebook’s “See First” Feature?

The new feature, called “See First,” allows users in the United States to pick and choose whose pages or profiles will be seen at the top of their Facebook news feed.

The benefit being that for companies that are added to this list, their content will always be seen by users that frequently enjoy or “Like” their posts.

“If [social marketers] can get added [to a user’s See First list], they’ll benefit from not only their most popular posts reaching someone, but anything they post… including overt marketing or sales messages that Facebook tends to hide in the News Feed,” Constine writes.

Constine explains that if people use See First, it’s likely that they would only add a few of their favorite pages such as premier brands or public figures. If you were looking to publish a post on Facebook detailing your newest product or latest seasonal updates but you’re not on a user’s See First List, it’s unlikely that content would ever be seen unless people were already Liking the post in the first place.  

Currently, See First is only available for iOS devices. Facebook plans to extend the feature to desktop computers and Android devices in the coming weeks.

Understanding Facebook’s News Feed

For years, Constine writes, Facebook has told businesses to buy Page Likes in order to reach more people through the News Feed. “But over time, a natural increase in competition for space in the feed plus increased restrictions on promotional and marketing posts have eroded the reach of Pages, and subsequently some of the value of Pages Likes,” he says.

All the more reason to gain followers organically as opposed to ads.

“Someone who didn’t really love a brand in the first place but Liked it from an ad probably isn’t going to See First them,” says Constine.

What could “See First” mean for my company’s Facebook page?

Here’s the kicker. A Like only benefits a Facebook page if a company is publishing content that people enjoy. If a Like is bought via ads, it stands to reason that fewer people are actually enjoying that company’s content, Constine explains.

Consequently, your company’s Facebook posts may not be seen by the majority of your audience unless they have consistently Liked your content in the first place.

Playing Devil’s Advocate, however, Constine explains that he’s not saying Facebook shouldn’t have launched See First. But, he says, if the feed is “full of boring stuff people don’t want to see,” users won’t come back and there’s no reach for anyone.

At the end of the day, Facebook wants to put the user first, and it’s going to take some clever ideas from marketers to convince these users to add them to their See First list.