Facebook is pushing back after users spotted a six country test that removes all page posts from the News Feed, unless they are supported by a paid boost. As we wrote yesterday, such a move Would be catastrophic for musicians and music marketers, and we’ve heard these promises from Facebook before, only to have them make algorithmic changes without warning.
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Answering the outcry over a controversial 6 country test that would eliminate page posts from the main news feed and place them in a separate “Explore” feed, Facebook exec Adam Mosseri, issued a statement yesterday:
“The goal of this test is to understand if people prefer to have separate places for personal and public content. We will hear what people say about the experience to understand if it’s an idea worth pursuing any further. There is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore.”
But experienced marketers are skeptical, as are we. Matt Navarra, the director of social media for The Next Web tweeted:
Living off organic Facebook reach?
You’re in for a tough time
That free party is over.
News Feed in 2018 will be for paying guests only.— Matt Navarra ⭐️ (@MattNavarra) October 21, 2017
Chanel Cumberbatch wrote:
Facebook news feed change is death to small businesses – https://t.co/83Q8X1hXgl
— Chanel Cumberbatch (@bossbabechanel) October 24, 2017
MORE: Facebook Tests Change That Is CATASTROPHIC For Music Marketing