Facebook To Minimise Limit Number Of Promotional Page Posts

As of early 2015, the social media giant Facebook is due to address the number of unsolicited promotional posts users will see in their news streams, The Drum reports. The crackdown aims to tackle posts that ask users to buy a particular product or enter a competition; it comes not long after Facebook announced new privacy policies, which allow users to question why they have been targeted with particular ads.

The news also comes after a large number of users were asked their opinion on what they would like to see appear in their news feed, and the majority requested more posts from their family and friends. The site warned advertisers that the number of “overly promotional” organic posts that appear in an individual’s news feed will be reduced, and they will therefore have to buy an ad instead of relying on organic reach in order to engage their target audience.

This latest move is effectively encouraging advertisers to treat the site as they would TV and other forms of paid media. It is something professionals have been expecting for a couple of years, as in 2012 Facebook began encouraging advertisers to reappraise their strategies, it is reported.

In a blog post, Facebook noted that come January users can expect to see less of this type of content; the company said that the “news feed is already a competitive place – as more people and pages are posting content, competition to appear in news feed has increased. All of this means that pages that post promotional creative should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time.”

The move is also expected to increase demand for Facebook ads, as brands look for alternative means of supplementing their newly limited organic reach.