'This Post Was Served'-- Facebook Unveils New Changes...Again

If you went onto your Facebook pages yesterday, you may or may not have noticed a slight new change-- your posts were served. That's right, your posts are now served to people not seen by people. At the bottom of your posts, you'll now see, 'this post was served to XX people' versus 'seen by XX.' What's Facebook doing? Who knows. Probably a little experiment. Whether it sticks around or not, we have yet to see.

This isn't the only change. Facebook unveils new changes all of the time, with a couple new recent changes. Among the most recent changes is the revamping of business pages. This process has been slow and not all pages have been converted yet. Basically, business pages on Facebook are getting a new timeline design...again.

The new look is essentially narrower, with all of your page info and control options on the left, with your Home feeds being in the center. Why?  The news feeds have been modified to appear the same on both desktops and mobile devices in an attempt to simplify things.

Other than the new design, you've also probably noticed photos are now larger than before. You'll also see a new ad campaign come into play over the next several weeks if you haven't already. This allows merchants to run more ads at once. This new campaign method is said to make it easier to track performance, organize, and optimize.

As usual, these are just the first of many new changes Facebook will probably release. Just when you get used to one thing, Facebook stirs things up and changes everything again. Good or bad, it's just something you have to learn to live with when dealing with Facebook.

Have you noticed that your post was served? What about the new timeline changes for your business page? What do you think of the new changes?


Comments

Unknown said…
I just noticed the served terminology on my page today too. Have you uncovered the difference between seen and served yet? Is there a difference?

I daily grow more frustrated by FB. The knowledge that only 16% of my followers see what I post unless I pay to boost it is frustrating enough but when my seen by (not served to) numbers never reach more than about 3-4 percent of my total followers I am in a constant state of "What the heck?"
Thanks for posting this. I didn't notice any change until today on my FB fan page, Juggling With Julia. I look at those numbers every day, so I would find it hard to believe it was implemented on my page before yesterday. Either way, I am having trouble finding out if it is simply a verbiage change or if it is more than that. Have you learned anything new since you posted this?
Alyssa Ast said…
Greg- No, there really is no difference other than the wording. I understand your frustration with the amount of views on Facebook and having to pay extra to "boost" the post. Personally, I feel it's a low move on Facebook's part, but I understand their desire to create a profit. However, it is very frustrating!
Alyssa Ast said…
Juggling with Julia-- From my understanding, it hasn't hit all pages yet. I know a few of my pages are "served," while others remain "seen by." Whether it will stick around or not, I don't know. It may just be a BETA thing right now/.
Unknown said…
I to am frustrated with trying to reach our audience, and while this may be a newbie question, I am wondering if having people like a post helps to make it "served" to more people? Does that have any effect at all?
Alyssa Ast said…
Denise-- Yes, the more activity on the most, the more it will be "Seen." The trick is to create engaging posts people will want to like, comment, and share. Of course, hashtags can help as well. Determine what times during the day are most active on your page and schedule your posts to appear during those times to increase the likeliness your post is seen. Pictures and videos are a hit in the social media world, so always try to include a pic/video with every post.
Ken said…
I don't have a problem with Facebook expecting people to pay for exposure. It isn't a charity. But I do have a problem with their deception.

I PAID Facebook, through their ads, to build the Likes on my site, expecting that my posts would be seen by all of those people who Like my page. Now that I have PAID my way up to 8,000 Likes, my posts are being served to 40 people or less, unless I PAY again to BOOST them? That seems like BS to me.

Am I missing something?