What would Facebook be like without the news feed algorithm?
Different. VERY different!
But would it be better?
A lot of businesses seem to think so. I hear it from them all the time:
I hate the Facebook algorithm!
But isn't the algorithm supposed to make Facebook better??
According to Mark Zuckerberg, YES!... the news feed algorithm improves the experience of the average Facebook user.
So what if he decided to remove it tomorrow? What would Facebook be like then?
I can hear my friends cheering right now:
It would be sooooo much better!!!
But would it?
In this post, I'll give you my answer and tell you what I think would happen if Facebook removed its most unpopular (and misunderstood) feature.
>> Click to Tweet <<
WARNING: Here's What Facebook Would Look Like WITHOUT the Algorithm
1. News Feed goes crazy fast!
Yes, CRAZY fast!...
Don’t believe me? Just look at Twitter and imagine it happening on Facebook (minus the 140 character limit).
Even Chris Brogan found it frustrating. Here’s what he had to say on his post.
(ps. this is why I use Twitter lists)
2. Reach actually falls
Think you'd reach more fans?
No chance!
Since the stream would be constantly moving, your posts would disappear before your fans ever got the chance to see them.
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And you? Well, you’d probably be able to see about 1% of what is happening in your best friends' lives -- and even less from your favorite pages.
3. You miss important updates from friends
Oops! You've missed important moments from your friends -- like the birth of their first child or a wedding.
All because there were too many crazy things on flying through your feed -- most of which you didn’t give a crap about!
Lucky for us, Facebook knows the important moments of are closest friends -- and the news feed algorithm helps to show them to you.
For example Here's an engagement from a friend of mine. Guess what? I didn't miss it!
4. Engagement & Likes plummet
Think you'd get more Likes?
Nope! Your Likes, comments AND shares would be...
Going... going... gone!
Why? Well, since the sheer number of posts flying through your fans' news feeds has just gone through the roof, they probably won't have the time to engage with your posts -- even if they're lucky enough to see them!
So your engagement would actually drop!
5. Irrelevant posts fill up your feed
One thing I love about Facebook’s algorithm is it shows you more posts from friends or brands you've engaged with most.
Ie. it rewards pages with good content and punishes pages with bad content.
Since that would be gone if the algorithm were removed, you’d start seeing posts from friends and brands you’ve constantly ignored.
Boring!!!
6. Facebook becomes spambook
More spam? But why?
Because in order to get you to notice posts, businesses won't mind posting 
dozens and dozens of times.
They'd no longer be punished for it -- so what's to stop them?
In fact, the incentive would be for them to post non-stop!
And with those incentives in place, spammers would take advantage and post EVERY single minute of the day.
Goodbye pleasant news feed!!!
In Conclusion
Without its algorithm in place, Facebook would go to hell!
- the news feed would move at hyperspeed
- the reach of your posts would get even worse
- you'd miss all the updates you actually want to see
- you'd get less and less engagement
- your news feed would be filled with irrelevant gibberish
- ... and spam!
Sound like a fun place to spend your online time?
No way!
Wake up, people! The solution is not to remove the news feed algorithm. Doing so would make our favorite social network a noisy nightmare.
And no one wants that, right?? :)
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