You can accuse Facebook of many things, but sitting idle is not one of them. 

Now Facebook is once again changing its News Feed algorithm – here's what you need to know.

Timely is tops

Facebook announced the latest shake up in a blog post, explaining it's now favouring more timely posts in a bid to boost real-time conversations. Sounds a bit like Twitter no?

Now two factors will determine if a post is News Feed-worthy: trends and engagement.

Like or lose

If you're posting about a trending topic, it's more likely to make the News Feed. Facebook explained these hot topic posts lead to a 6% increase in engagement.

Facebook is also looking more closely at when users are engaging with posts.

For example, if a post receives a lot of Likes or comments shortly after going live it is more likely to appear higher in the News Feed soon after being published.

Facebook will also use this metric when deciding which posts to “bump”. Bumping is when Facebook repositions an older post higher on the News Feed, provided it's still winning on engagement. 

The fallout

The new ranking is gradually rolling out, and Facebook says it does not expect to see significant changes in post distribution.

For brand pages the takeaway seems clear: posting about trending topics is now an easier free win on Facebook. For now at least.

To find out more visit newsroom.fb.com.

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