Facebook is all about engaging users, as long as it is authentic of course. Well, as of this week the company announced that the tactic is known as; “engagement baiting” will no longer be tolerated. And, it could put you in some hot water if you do not heed their warnings. The social platform is now taking a stand and will be demoting posts that use engagement baiting tactics. After all, nobody has time for spammy posts that add zero value to the platform. In this article we will go over some of the different types of engagement bait, and how it might affect you if you’re actively using these techniques, and what you can do to avoid getting put on the company's radar.
What is Engagement Bait?
Posts that offer incentives- such as “Like if you can’t live without coffee” or “Share once and tag 5 friends to win this gift card”- are deemed as baiters. Schemes like these ultimately launch content through engagement, therefore reaching a larger audience. And, as we all know, if Facebook is good at anything, it’s making sure people are not able to circumvent their systems of monetization.
The social network giant is now taking back the News Feed by developing a machine learning model that will actually detect these different types of engagement baiting tactics. Individuals who take part in vote baiting, react baiting, share baiting, tag baiting and comment baiting (just to name a few) will now begin to see their posts quickly diminish from the News Feed.
How Will Page Owners be Penalized for Using Engagement Bait?
The company has stated that they are working to combat these types of posts, and now they will begin punishing Page Owners or Page Administrators by stopping the reach of posts using these tactics. Pages that prompt consumers to take actions like commenting, liking, tagging, and sharing will begin to see their posts demoted. And, it could eventually lead to further disciplinary action if not stopped.
The bottom line, these bait posts play against the algorithm that was originally established by Facebook, and the last thing the company wants is the integrity of that algorithm to be compromised. The company has now categorized thousands of posts and stated it will now implement stricter demotions for repeat offenders.
The battle against click-bait and now engagement bait isn’t new for Facebook. Previous algorithms had already been tweaked to bury fake news and other stories. But now, Facebook is taking these efforts to the next level to create a more authentic experience while users are navigating their news feed.
Conclusion
Facebook will allow offenders original reach after a warning if the engagement bait is stopped. However, serial offenders who continue to clog up the algorithms will be severely penalized. Facebook did not indicate clearly the exact penalties for repeat offenders, but we would not put it past them to completely shut down an ad account, or worse, disable your business manager altogether.
The company said posts that are raising money for charity or asking for advice or recommendations won’t be affected by this update. But, be forewarned, if you are currently participating in the tactics, now would be a great time to revisit your strategy.
Well, that’s all for now folks. We hope you found this article useful. If you happen to have anything questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to let us know in the comments below.
Happy Hunting!
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