Facebook Friday: Why Facebook's Like High School

Popularity still matters.  Especially if you are trying to promote yourself or connect with people through Facebook.  Your Facebook is through status updates that are then streamed to your friends or fans news feeds.  If you want people to interact with you, you need to show up on their news stream Have you ever wondered how Facebook decides what goes in the news feed and what doesn't? Well, they won't tell us, because they're all secretive like that, but some studies have been done and the findings seem much like high school:

1. FB doesn't love the newbie.  If you are new on FB, you won't show up in as many people's news feeds until you build up a some coolness.
2. You show up more on news feeds of people with fewer friends.  Well, duh. That's just math. If your friends all have 600 friends or more, you're like a needle in a haystack with your posts. So having some friends with less friends will equal more quality friendships. Just like high school
3. Lots of interactions doesn't guarantee you're the top.  FB has two options of viewing your news feed: Top News (default) and Most Recent.  You would think that the more interactions the more your status would be top news.  Well, yes, but like high school, the quality of your interactions is more important than the quantity. Keep reading.
4. Stalking doesn't make you popular. And it never did in high school either. If you lurk on other's FB pages or keep your news feed open at all hours, it means nothing. You have to do the posting to be cool.
5. Being stalked does make you cool. Of course. The more you are stalked, the more FB thinks you matter. 
6. Links are cooler than status updates. Because just like in high school, gossip is king. When you post a link in your status update, you're doing the FB equivalent of gossip. You're saying, "Guess what I just read!" And that ups your popularity.
7. Videos and Photos are cooler than links. Because photos and videos are proof of gossip, right? Think about high school - a great story was better with pics. 
8. If people talk about you, you're cool.  The more other readers comment on your status, photos, links, etc., the cooler you are. The more people tag you, the cooler you are.  Coolness = you showing up in their news feed.

And FYI, Most Recent news doesn't always just show the most recent news. It likes links and videos better too. 

Think about these facts as you decide how you want to interact on FB. Next week we'll talk a little more about what these tips mean for you as an author.

Do you think FB is like high school? How's your popularity? Do you post lots of links? photos? videos? Or just say "hi" cuz that's cool too :)