In March 2015 Facebook began removing inactive accounts from branded pages.

The official statement was that Facebook would remove certain inactive accounts from its network, with the company warning brands that the scrubbing would result in decreased like counts.

The accounts being removed included those that have been voluntarily deactivated by users, as well as memorialised and fake accounts.

The numbers

Here at Online Circle Digital we were interested in finding out more about which pages and categories suffered the greatest fan loss, so we updated our Facebook Australian Performance Report Q1 2015 .

The report measured engagement from 1 January to 31 March and covers 25 categories, 20 industries and 250 brands.

By looking at how different categories and individual brands were impacted by the change, we were able to establish that retail brands, TV shows and musicians have been the categories worst hit.

Newspapers and magazines suffered the least, actually increasing their fans both in number and by level of engagement.

For the last 18 months radio has been the most engaged-with category, followed by newspapers and magazines, then TV shows.

Mega media

Of the top 30 Facebook pages by engagement, 26 are those owned by media networks – either radio stations, magazines or news producers.

It's a similar tale for the top 30 pages by fan numbers. Brands only account for a handful of the top 30 while on-air talent, TV shows, magazines and news outlets top the list.

The full report is available for SMK readers here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucio Ribeiro, is a co-founder and lead strategist of Online Circle Digital where he works with Fortune 500 brands in developing their digital marketing strategy and execution. He is considered a thought leader on digital marketing authoring articles in digital innovation and strategy, speaking in seminars and judging global awards.