As we come to the end of February 2018 (seriously how is it almost March already), we round up the latest Facebook updates and changes in Facebookland….
1. Goodbye Power Editor
I was never a fan, but know a lot of people preferred it to good old ads manager. The new layout in the latest Facebook Updates is a combination of both. You can switch between a default creation flow and guided creation, depending on your levels of OCD (I get cold sweats if I don’t set up an ad in a certain order 🙄)
If you’ve cried tears over a crashing ads manager, you’ll be glad to hear the auto save god-send of power editor has made its way to the new setup, so your precious work will be saved as you go along.
There’s also a reporting hybrid in the Facebook Updates, pulling together the best of both previous interfaces. See the detailed breakdowns of results that were previously only available in ads manager, combined with the previous reporting functionality of power editor. Perfect. ❤
2. Lists Lists Lists
Organisation freaks rejoice. Facebook is rolling out lists to users (currently only for Android), so you can show off your wish lists, to do items etc.
Not coincidental that this feature rolls out right when Zuckerberg is encouraging us to re-engage with friends and family on the platform (because knowing Aunty Sandra has 8 chores on her housework list is going to make me get in touch right. 🤔)
Personally not a fan of this update, but I’m sure some list lovers will dig it.
Want some help with your Marketing? Contact us for a free strategy call today
3. Reporting Engagement
One of the biggest groans on the Facebook groups this month has been that they’ve seen a drop off in reach in February 2018, but actually reach figures haven’t dropped (well, maybe).
On February 12th, Facebook rolled out changes to the way it reports organic reach, so it’s more comparable to reach figures from paid ads. Here’s some explanation straight from the horses mouth….
“This is a change in the way that we measure reach, not a change in News Feed distribution, and other engagement metrics will remain the same. This will provide page owners with a more precise measurement of their audience and offer a more consistent measurement methodology across both our paid and organic reach reporting. Since this is stricter reporting, some pages may see lower reach figures than before”.
4. Downvotes are in Beta
The much requested dislike button doesn’t appear to be coming any time soon, but a similar downvote feature IS being tested and available to a limited number of users. Once selected, the user can confirm whether the post is misleading, off topic or offensive, and is currently only available for page posts.
We think this one will take some time to roll out due to the impact it could have on Facebook’s precious communities. Currently you have to be in the 5% of English language users in the US using Android to see the new feature, watch this space for updates.
5. Reporting Confusion
If you’ve every tried to compare Facebook results to Google Analytics or any other reporting metric, the figures are so often way off. Facebook are finally addressing their reporting accuracy, labelling ad metrics as an estimate, in development or both.
Facebook are also having a cleanup of their metric options, and will be removing 20 of these in the summer as they’re seen as redundant. Read more about the changes to Facebook reporting metrics in their blog here
