I love Facebook. Regular readers of the blog will know that. I sing it praises from the rooftops on a regular basis, but there is one tiny problem that’s hurting them as a service and that they need to fix fast.
Marketers and people who use the service on a regular basis will be aware of Edgerank and the fact that Facebook has algorithms that they use to decide what you see in your feed. To sum it up, the more you interact with a profile or page by leaving comments, likes and shares, the more that will show up in your news feed. For the most part it works great, but there is one major flaw…
So Lynda is a good friend of mine. I’ve known her since I was about 4 years old and even though we only see each other about twice a year, we are old, old friends. She updates her profile on a regular basis, but because we don’t share messages, comment on each other’s profiles or interact through Facebook they have decided that her updates are no longer relevant to me. I never see anything that she does and I only happened to think of her because I clicked in to the “recent” posts tab on the news feed.
Facebook had essentially decided that our friendship was over. She was sharing amazing photos, great memories and special moments but I was missing them all. That annoys me. Who the hell is Facebook to decide who my actual friends are? It is a major flaw. They’ve got this one wrong and they need to fix it soon. When I log in, I see photos from brands I’ve liked rather than updates from the people who matter most to me. I know it is only a small thing and it seems like I am being petty, but I expect better from Facebook as a social communication tool and they have messed up on this one.
