Analysing statistics is essential to ensure that your newsroom’s/department’s work on social media is functioning optimally. The statistics will teach you which journalism is engaging the audience, the reach of your content, and how relevant it is to the audience as well as which topics of discussion are touching people in our own journalism and on social media in general.
Facebook has the most advanced and detailed statistics tools of the big social media platforms. You can find information on everything from the age range and demographics of your target groups to detailed information about how long your audience watched your videos and if the sound was on or not.
Facebook has the most advanced and detailed statistics tools of the big social media platforms. You can find information on everything from the age range and demographics of your target groups to detailed information about how long your audience watched your videos and if the sound was on or not.
But with so many tools and parameters to measure, it is easy to drown in the figures. Think through what statistics will benefit your journalism before you decide what you want to investigate (read more under the tab Targets and Statistics).
WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK AT?
Reach is what lies closest to hand for the newsroom/department to measure and follow. This indicates the size of the audience reached by your posts, and you can set different time periods to see how your average reach goes up and down.
Remember that reach measures how many users have seen the post, not how many have interacted with it. Reach is therefore a good indication that your content is being seen, but should be combined with engagement statistics (likes, comments, shares), and clicks on links and objects in your posts.
Remember that reach measures how many users have seen the post, not how many have interacted with it. Reach is therefore a good indication that your content is being seen, but should be combined with engagement statistics (likes, comments, shares), and clicks on links and objects in your posts.
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ORGANIC REACHOrganic reach measures how many users have seen the post on their screen. Previously the number of users who got the post in their news feed was measured – whether it appeared on their screen or not.
The average (mean value) is a good figure for the newsroom/department to talk about at weekly meetings, for example. It provides a concrete, easy to understand picture of the trend over time for an account on social media. The average (for reach, comments or shares) is also an interesting starting point when you compare your numbers with those of other similar pages. Read more about Averages and how Facebook Insights works here |
ALGORITHMS
There is no public information about how Facebook algorithms work or change. At different times, Facebook has tested giving precedence to different types of content and at the time of writing (spring 2018) Facebook is focusing on what they call Meaningful Social Interactions, local content and posts that drive dialogue, film and live video. It is possible to draw one’s own conclusions about this, if you study your own statistics over time, but the basic principle is simple: If your content stimulates engagement (the audience shares, likes and comments on your posts), it will be shown to more users.
Facebook says it will stop giving precedence to sensationalist posts created for the purpose of getting many clicks, termed click bait or engagement bait, and instead promote engaged dialogue. Facebook says that they want to promote meaningful interactions, but at the same time the company of course wants the audience to stay on the platform and not click their way out of it, so I think we can continue to assume that activity which promotes this will be favoured by its algorithms.
Monitor the trends when looking at the reach and engagement of your posts. Here is a test: can you infer anything from posts that get many comments? What do the most successful posts have in common? What is the common denominator for posts that don’t do so well? And is reach what is most important for your newsroom/department, or is there something else you need to keep track of?
Facebook says it will stop giving precedence to sensationalist posts created for the purpose of getting many clicks, termed click bait or engagement bait, and instead promote engaged dialogue. Facebook says that they want to promote meaningful interactions, but at the same time the company of course wants the audience to stay on the platform and not click their way out of it, so I think we can continue to assume that activity which promotes this will be favoured by its algorithms.
Monitor the trends when looking at the reach and engagement of your posts. Here is a test: can you infer anything from posts that get many comments? What do the most successful posts have in common? What is the common denominator for posts that don’t do so well? And is reach what is most important for your newsroom/department, or is there something else you need to keep track of?
Since 2016, Facebook also owns CrowdTangle a statistics and research tool that is available for media companies.