Did You Wonder Why Your Facebook Posts from Steemit are Getting a Tiny Amount of Interaction?
Facebook has utilized a technique called shadow banning for years. It also goes by a term called throttling. What Facebook does is restrict the amount of your friends or connections who see posts from specific websites. Throttling or shadow banning is just the first step. If Facebook deems Steemit a threat they will likely not allow posts or links from Steemit at all.
In the meantime it is still ok to post your Steemit links to Facebook. Just be warned that the amount of people who see them will be severely restricted.
What Can You Do to Evade Throttling of Your Posts?
If You Post This Way You can Expect Facebook to Throttle the Post.
Here is How to Evade it!
What Proof Do You Have that Facebook is Shadow Banning Steemit Posts.
I have absolutely no definitive proof. Over the last few weeks Steemit users have been complaining that their posts are not reaching the amount of views that they used to get on Facebook. Since I have been down this road before when Facebook shadow banned Youtube, Google Plus and Tsu I recognize the tactics.
When using social media it is always wise to remember that there is a war for our attention. Companies like Facebook do not like competition especially when it takes your eyes off of their website and their ads. Facebook wants you to stay on their platform!
Remember that the internet is very big and Facebook is just one place to drop your links. Here is a list of other social media platforms that you can drop your links into.
Google Plus
Twitter
Pinterest
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
Scoop.it
Diigo
Wordpress
Blogger
Medium
LinkedIn
If you are serious about ranking your Steemit posts then I recommend you spend just as much time writing your posts as you do sharing your content. I know it takes work but being a good blogger requires more than writing to be successful. Social Media is what we do. $200 Social
THE BATTLE IS ON, AND WE HAVE APPARENTLY CAUSED FEAR WITHIN THE HEART OF THE FACEBOOK BEAST.
No longer will bloggers and social-mediaites have to interact to make money for others! Now, they stand a chance at making some money for themselves. Free the people!
Oh look, here comes our hero STEEMIT now!
Also, FACEBOOK is a @papa-pepper free zone, so you won't find me there!
Nice!! Social Media is my biz so I spend all day on it as well as every other platform. I wish I could turn FB off forever : (
I haven't had time to check it out properly, BUT... there's a FB type site that doesn't sell our content.
It's called www.MeWe.com
I'd love to hear the more experienced web experts take on it. My knowledge is severely lacking.
I wonder how many social platforms you have used at one time or another, lol. I bet it's a lot! Do you keep a "life list" like bird watchers do? How many have you used that don't even exist any more, or look a lot different that when you started with them? The tales you could tell!
@papa-pepper - needs to be seen everywhere! The world would benefit! (Y)
LOL!
Thanks for your vote of encouragement!
I registered on steemit chat today, and tried to find you. I saw awhile back you had some login issues/ pw issues. I am trying to figure out the basics of using that site now.
just started a private conversation with you there.
Me neither, papa! Facebook was yesterday, today is Steemit ;-)
Another one of the reasons I gave up the evil book of face and hope Steemit crushes it!
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@sift666/is-steemit-the-future-of-the-internet-or-just-the-new-facebook
Awesome!!
Shadow banning information and communication is so fucking evil it amazes me that anyone who hears about the practice is not immediately outraged. Fuck Facebook entirely, and fuck the moderators and administrators on Reddit who misuse it. On Reddit, it's only supposed to be used for spam reduction. Steemit links are not spam, and shadowbanning them is simply anti-competitive behavior that does disservice to the freedom of information and speech on the web.
I know @ned has said (some interview, somewhere) that @neilstrauss has tested this out on Facebook, where he has a fairly large following, and found it to be true.
Pretty sad, but corporations inherently feel threatened and react in some not so friendly ways.
I tested this out on Facebook.
I asked people who see the post to like it.
The result was rather interesting, because of the 10 people who liked it (I usually get more) the vast majority were people who rarely like what I post, and the people who usually like my stuff, apparently didn't see it. I even asked a few friends who I engage with a lot on Facebook.
Interesting.
Made a post about it here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@schattenjaeger/i-ran-a-test-on-facebook-to-see-how-much-visibility-a-steemit-link-gets-and-the-result-was-interesting
Nice test!
One more reason to prefer Steemit. I was aware of this, though. But it's good that you're raising awareness.
They will never tell us it is being done but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out they are doing something.
Yeah, I usually get pretty good traction on Facebook whenever I post something, but if it's a Steemit post, I barely get a like. Even if it's content that interests the people who like my posts are interested in.
That is what many folks are reporting.
same here
Thank you for your post, good to let us know!
You are welcome, I just followed you thanks for stopping by.
Thank you and welcome.
Isn't the free market fantastic?
Yup, just wait until Busy.org is launched. There will be a tidal wave towards Steemit and the platforms built on it. Followed
Many many people who post on f...book, professionally, notice this.
F...book limits the number of people it shows any given post to. They said, if we showed everything to everyone, it would be too much for you to read.
Always include a photo! If you do, your post will reach 2 or 3x as many of your friends.
And now, for some proof. I have a blogger friend I follow religiously. He posts from 3 places: f...book, twitter and twitter, so that three posts end up created on f...book. I go and "like" every one of his posts to help his message be known.
And every day! I have to go to his wall, to get all the posts. He puts out 3 a day, and I usually only see 1 or 2. There have been a couple times of 0, but since I like everyone of his posts, so that usually doesn't happen.
Remember, what you see on F...book is not what other people see. It is ingenious. Plausible deniability to the max. You put out something, and you have no idea what it looks like on the other end. And most people never notice a few things missing. As long as everything looks normal.
Good synopsis of how FB works.
Bloody Zuck and his Farcebook, fires he thinks he owns social media. Oh that's right he does.
It's a good thing the Steemit community believe in genuine connection, there will be growth it might just take a little longer to spread the word.
Since Steemit rewards us for interaction we really don't need outside social media to survive. The traffic and linkbacks are what I am after.
Valuable info, thanks for sharing, Randy! Since we've been using Steemit, @gardenofeden and most of our inhabitants only use FB to promo our Steemit posts, and in these few months we've seen our reach drop from 10K to just over 2K users on FB. I've also experienced that the thumbnail will not pop up when entering a Steemit link, which is super important bc images entice people to click the link. I've even seen that the link doesn't pop up as a clickable box at all on a few occasions--definitely evidence of censorship to me! I appreciate your tips and will start using a link attached to an image rather than allow FB to do the work for me and hope for the best!
We have had discussions of this and appreciate your bringing it to light. I love that you offer an alternative way to post and I will be taking advantage of that as well. It will be interesting to see if the traffic to our page goes back up again. The experiment is on!
I have learned this too. It applies to all sorts of links - Facebook wants people to stay on Facebook. This is what I do. 1. post a catchy image and some words with a clue about finding the link 2. post the link in the Comments with a preview allowed.
Absolutely, that is the next step once they crack down even further. I actually enjoy the dance. ; )
Upvoted and resteemed.
I have previously read about this type of practice with FB. < the greedy incestual coitus mongers> From what I remember reading, FB average posts reach only about 7-10% of a patron's 'friends.' I also remember a ploy that one could PAY FB to reach more people! <some idiots actually do this!> This should tell people FB is censoring. What I read also supported what @alienbutt and @builderofcastles reported about 'friends' not receiving posts. According to the article I read, EVEN IF ONE PAYED FB TO EXPAND THE POST, FRIENDS ARE STILL NOT GUARANTEED TO RECEIVED IT!. My questions are, "Then, who would? Shouldn't my 'friends' receive my posts? Isn't that why 'friends' exist on FB? Why should I have to pay at all; isn't FB supposed to be FREE?" and finally "WHY would I WANT to be on FB at all?"
I can answer the last question, at least: "I don't," and I haven't.
I wish I could remember where I read this post, but it was a year or two ago, and I have slept since then.
In my opinion, Steemit is the only worthwhile social media platform.
Thank you for your post and reminding me how happy I am to not have been sucked in by the childish, high-school mentality of FB.
Sadly since social media is my business I have to build bridges to all of the other platforms. I still find some value in FB just not very much.
indeed
Having an author page on Facebook it's easy to see they do this. A fraction of the people who have liked my page see the posts, even less if there is a link from, say Amazon. If you pay them they will make your post visable to a wider audience... even though that wider audience is probably people who have liked the page in the first place.
FB pages are officially the black hole of the internet. Groups are much better for interaction. They want us to Pay to Play.
I am not surprised in the absolute least. I've seen this happen with Pages as Facebook started pushing their ad services. It's only a matter of time before they start offering "premium reach" services for outside links.
If they could turn Facebook into a walled garden, they would. End up like old-school AOL. And we all know how well that went.
It is definitely been a steady shift in that direction. I almost left back in 2011 when GPlus launched because of the same issue.
There is an inherent throttling on every social media website. You have a limited number of links allowed, or images. The limitation is enforced more on the places where the platform can make more money. For instance, pages in Facebook are more strictly watched than personal accounts. Pages are bigger spenders in advertising, so they must be watched closely.
That is exactly why I don't use a personal brand FB page. My wife does but I prefer the regular profile.
It's a good sign actually. They are afraid - for a reason ;-)
Viva Steemit self-governance!
They sure are! It is a sign we are doing something right.
In the top days of Bubblews, three years ago, you bumped into a Google recaptcha like barrier when you posted links on Facebook. With a title that posting from site this-and-this is unwise and could be harmful. Too bad I didn't make some screenshots of this shameless activity.
Here is an article about blocking Tsu:
https://www.wired.com/2015/11/facebook-banning-tsu-rival-social-network/
Looks like that the methods are a bit more subtle these days :)
Believe me they scale up slowly. Tsu throttling started the same way.
So this is stage one of blocking? For a beta Steemit. Sort of a compliment :)
Oh boy that makes sense. I noticed the other day on my own FB. Only ONE person liked and/or commented. Highly unusual on my wall.
Still, I'm a bit like a terrier when it comes down to facing off against big companies... ask z*nga - I bet Marc Pincus remembers me...
Upvoted, ReSteemed and shared on my Facebork page :)
Aw shucks Michelle! It was your post that prompted me to write this.
Cool! @ned and his circular currency! :)
RS and UV as always.
I agree with you, I have noticed something on there with my content not getting traction and figured it was something along these lines. It is always good when an interwebs expert like you and others here post things like this confirming suspicions and backing it up with some reasonable form of explanation. Thanks for the post
No problem Barry, it is a repeated cycle that FB employs.
Upvoted and Resteemed.
Thank you so much, followed!
Go with Facebook !
Great information @hilarski!
I appreciate you stopping by!
Of course and thanks for sharing!
Thank you pointing this out.
I'm not completely surprised.
No problem, I want this platform to succeed.
So where exactly should we post the steem link to? Can you post a short example? Cheers Chris4210
Post it in the text area above the image.
Of all of them, I've found Twitter to be the kindest to Steemit posts.
It sure is! The Steemit Twitter account is doing very well. Gplus, Pinterest and Tumblr also have no issue.
You are so right. Spending time on your other social media is definitely just as important as one's content. People want to connect with PEOPLE.
You got that right. We need to put social back in social media and I think Steemit is doing it well with the reward system.
I'm not surprised. So many things they have censored this past election season. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the heads up, I like @papa-pepper do not go near FB. I had an account last time I checked it was a couple weeks after I made it, and that was more than 9 years ago. This is really the first time I ever became engaged in social media. On thing I hate about FB that I learned from my mom, She went to a local restaurant and the FB posted she was there for her without her knowledge. She found out from another person she new that asked her about the post. After I heard that I was happy I never used FB. Well, my mom only uses it to keep up with my niece and nephew who live in a different state.
Interesting, I have no idea how that could happen but I don't doubt it.
Interesting. Very interesting. It is like an old-time gold rush with all trying to stake a claim.
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
Experimental Crowdsourced Steem Metrics Report for 18th November 2016 by @ontofractal
I Ran a Test on Facebook to see How Much Visibility a Steemit Link Gets and the Result Was Interesting by @schattenjaeger
Learn more about and upvote to support linkback bot v0.5. Flag this comment if you don't want the bot to continue posting linkbacks for your posts.
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Is there a way to automate posting to facebook in the manner you suggest? Would Hootsuite do it?
Randy, have you tried using a URL shortener like Bitly?
I didn't know before... But I know now. Thanks Upvoted. I am going to write an article on this shortly. Follow me so you see it.