quintly Data Analysis: Which Facebook Post Type Rules The News Feed

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An Analysis Of The Facebook Post Type Distribution & The Corresponding Interactions Is visual content really the holy grail to appear in the news feed of fans? March 2014

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Please check: http://quint.ly/1iUtOrs Is visual content really the holy grail to appear in the news feed. We conducted a data analysis to find out which Facebook post type seems to work best. Due to the permanent adaptation and optimization of the Facebook news feed and the implementation of over thousand different weights for users, it has become a major challenge for Facebook pages to reach their existing audience. Meanwhile, many pages are reaching only a small fraction of their fans, but of course, the reach of those posts can easily be increased by boosting them as sponsored stories. Basically, the more interactions a post receives, the more fans will see it in their news feed. This raises the question whether one can find out which post types are generating the most interactions. In other words: Is visual content really the holy grail to appear in the news feed of fans? We created a sample data set of 72,194 Facebook pages. These pages produced a total amount of around 49 million posts between the 1st January 2013 and 31st January 2014. The analyzed posts are divided into the following types: Photo, Link, Status, Video, Cover Photo, Offer, Note, Question, Music, SWF and Event.

Transcript of quintly Data Analysis: Which Facebook Post Type Rules The News Feed

Page 1: quintly Data Analysis: Which Facebook Post Type Rules The News Feed

An Analysis Of The Facebook Post Type Distribution & The Corresponding Interactions

Is visual content really the holy grail to appear in the news feed of fans?

March 2014

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Introductory Remarks

Due to the permanent adaptation and optimization of the

Facebook news feed and the implementation of over

thousand different weights for users, it has become a major

challenge for Facebook pages to reach their existing

audience. Meanwhile, many pages are reaching only a small

fraction of their fans, but of course, the reach of those posts

can easily be increased by boosting them as sponsored

stories. Basically, the more interactions a post receives, the

more fans will see it in their news feed. This raises the

question whether one can find out which post types are

generating the most interactions. In other words: Is visual

content really the holy grail to appear in the news feed of

fans?

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The Post Type Data Set

We created a sample data set of 72,194 Facebook pages. These pages produced a total amount of around 49 million posts between the 1st January 2013 and 31st January 2014. The analyzed posts are divided into the following types:

• Photo

• Link

• Status

• Video

• Cover Photo

• Offer

• Note

• Question

• Music

• SWF

• Event

Please note:

Offer, Note, Question, Music, SWF and Event are summarized in some charts under the label Other.

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Macro View: Interactions & Post TypesData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

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Share Of Different Post Types Used By Facebook PagesData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

Photo 54%Link 30%Status 11%Video 3%Cover Photo 1%Other 1%

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Average Interactions Per Post Per TypeData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

Video Photo Status Offer Cover Photo

Question Note Link SWF Music Event

2183

1358

648 632 630

281204 188

102 570.08

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Average Interactions Per Post VS. Average Number Of Posts Per Page Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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The Proof: Visual Content Generates More EngagementIn fact, this is nothing new for experienced Facebook marketers and users. With a share of 54% photos make up more than half of the total content volume. The same applies for the average interactions per post type. With an average of 1,358 interactions per photo post this type ranks on the second place. The type with the highest number of interactions are videos. On average, a single video post created 2,183 interactions between 1/1/2013 and 1/31/2014. However, video posts only had a share of 3% of the total content amount.

Checking the other types, some differences show up. The good old status update has averagely the third most interactions over the analyzed 13 months. Closely followed by the offer and the cover photo types. While the status updates with 11% still a has bigger stake of the total posted content, there were only about 10k offer posts and thus it keeps a share of well below 1%. The cover photo indeed showed in our pie chart, but also has a share of only one percent. This in turn is hardly surprising, since most pages rarely change their cover photo. The second most published post type are link posts. With a share of 30% they create only around 200 interactions per post on average.

All in all it becomes clear that visual content items like photos and videos are generating the most interactions on average. But different from photo posts, video and cover photo posts only took a small proportion of the total posting volume for the analyzed data period.

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Monthly View: Interactions & Post TypesData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

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Average Facebook Page Posts Per Type Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Average Interactions Per Post Per TypeData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Unexpected Twist: Are Videos The Secret Interaction Magnet?

If you look at the monthly development of average posts by type, immediately the course of video posts attract attention. While photos, links and status updates are showing a growing or constant trend over the months regarding the average number of published posts, videos fall down to nearly zero between July and August 2013. Before that it shows a constant number of posted videos per month.

A simple explanation can not be found easily. Apparently different factors are playing a role. First, we searched for a mistake in the data, but we couldn’t find any issue. Furthermore, there was no official change by Facebook. Reasons could be that Facebook undertook a change but did not announce it. Moreover, it is likely that many pages, which usually share their YouTube and other videos, now only share an image or link to get the fans to visit their website. In fact, our numbers show that videos are generating a lot of interactions and due to the low posting volume, publishing videos seems to be a real insider tip.

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Micro View: Average Post & Interaction Development by TypeData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

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Photo – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Photo – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Photo – Say Cheese!Data & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type PhotoTotal Type Posts: 26,504,482Total Likes: 29,775,739,976Total Comments: 1,689,265,870Total Shares: 4,656,154,904Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

Photos are the most published posting item on Facebook as already noted before. Next to that they also generating the second most interactions on average. But as you can see in the first photo chart the number of averagely published photo posts have had its peak between July and November 2013. However, the average interactions had, in turn, their lowest values in June and July. Also the average number of interactions per post reached its highest point in January 2014, the interest of Facebook pages in photo post seems to be somewhat fallen off.

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Link – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Link – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Link – Connect Your Content Data & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type LinkTotal Type Posts: 14,835,194Total Likes: 2,383,316,220Total Comments: 244,954,931Total Shares: 324,035,725Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

The link post was made a bit more interesting for Facebook pages to use due to a recent change of the News Feed algorithm. But already since the August 2013 the amount of averagely shared link posts per page increased month by month. The line for the average interactions per link post per month even shows a linear growth. Of course, the same applies to the development of average likes, comments and shares.

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Status – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Status – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Status – What’s On Your Mind?Data & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type StatusTotal Type Posts: 5,565,379Total Likes: 3,039,922,305Total Comments: 306,586,084Total Shares: 262,816,643Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

Also the line for the average interactions per status post shows us the typical summer slum related drop down starting at the end of May and ending in July 2013. Although in January 2014 on average the most status post have been published, the average interactions declined again. This could be related to the aforementioned News Feed changes at this time.

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Video – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Video – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Video – Social Moving Images Data & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type VideoTotal Type Posts: 1,233,937Total Likes: 1,096,161,496Total Comments: 99,425,166Total Shares: 280,276,451Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

The monthly course of the averagely posted videos now clearly shows the already referred post amount anticlimax. Back in August of last year, the contributions of this type have been halved and from September, the volume is only one-third as before. Nevertheless the averagely generated likes, comments and shares started to increase since July and more than quadrupled in October. Since December, the number of interactions, however, abated again.

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Cover Photo – Average Posts& Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Cover Photo – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Cover Photo – Expose Your PageData & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type cover photoTotal Type Posts: 457,863Total Likes: 287,999,442Total Comments: 12,342,128Total Shares: 15,558,046Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

The young type cover photo is one of the clear winners of the last year regarding the linear growing amount of posts and interactions. It looks like, that more and more Facebook pages changing the cover photo more often not only after a rebranding but for campaigns, seasonal reasons like Christmas and just to push their fan reach. It could be that Facebook rates the change of a pages cover photo significantly higher than a status or link post and thus a lot more fans see such a post in their news feed and are able to interact with it.

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Offer – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Offer – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Offer – Everyone Likes DiscountsData & Review

Data

Analyzed data points of the post type OfferTotal Type Posts: 10,741Total Likes: 5,339,217Total Comments: 409,915 Total Shares: 1,268,670Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

As most people are fans of a page on Facebook to obtain information, but on the other hand, in order to get discounts or freebies, the introduction of Facebook offers was a logical consequence. Meanwhile, this posting type slightly seems to be long in the tooth and Facebook decided to remove it. This reasoned the obvious decrease after the official announcement back in June 2013. But still today you are still able to create an offer directly on your page. Since November 2013 it seems to be back on the content and ad plans of brands and in January 2014 the average posting amount reached its highest point. The same applies to the coupled amount of average interactions.

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Question – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Question – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Question – Conduct Polls & LearnData & Review

Data

Analyzed data points of the post type QuestionTotal Type Posts: 60,490Total Likes: 4,624,807Total Comments: 2,946,288 Total Shares: 83,923Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

The type question shows in the related charts the most extreme changes. The reason for that is quite clear this time. Like mentioned in case of the type offer, Facebook announced to phase out the post type question for pages. And this is definitely reflected in the charts. The amount of averagely published questions posts dropped to the zero line. Logically the same happened to the interactions. You may wonder why there is still a small amount of posted questions and related interactions. In an official statement Facebook said: “We’re no longer offering questions as an advertising product, or as a tool for all pages on Facebook, but we’re exploring the value questions bring to pages that produce public content — like news organizations, for example. Questions will remain as a tool for a small group of these types of pages, so that they can help us test a few improvements we’re making to the ways people and pages interact on Facebook.”

(Source: http://allfacebook.com/questions-pages_b121584)

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Note – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Note – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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Note – If You Need To Say MoreData & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type NoteTotal Type Posts: 22,677Total Likes: 2,879,104Total Comments: 667,152Total Shares: 449,034Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

The type note almost experienced a comeback in the last year. In fact, the amount of averagely posted notes per month has increased almost tenfold in October 2013 compared with the January of the last year. As as result of the highly pushed post type volume the average interactions dropped down a bit. Writing a note is not as simple as sharing an image or link to share a status. As a page admin you need to add the note app to your page, which is deeply hidden in the page settings to enable page managers to write page notes. Nevertheless the type note seems to be interesting for pages again. Also it could be that page managers started to test notes for the first time or again since a long time to find ways to reach their fans again.

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SWF – Average Posts & Interactions Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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SWF – Average Likes, Comments & Shares Per Post Per MonthData Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2013

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SWF – ShockWave FlashData & ReviewData

Analyzed data points of the post type NoteTotal Type Posts: 36,936Total Likes: 3,150,231Total Comments: 187,862Total Shares: 75,657Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Review

If you ask yourself what this SWF thing is: Its the Adobe Flash format. Compared with other types it is only rarely used by Facebook pages. Since the high times of flash are over for a long time. More and more people check Facebook on their mobile devices and we all know that iDevices don’t support flash, it might be not the best posting type nowadays. Anyhow, flash still has a small number of enthusiast which are posting this type on their pages.

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Music & EventData

Music Data:

Analyzed data points of the post type MusicTotal Type Posts: 635Total Likes: 67,218Total Comments: 5,307Total Shares: 3,236Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

Event Data:

Analyzed data points of the post type EventTotal Type Posts: 101,556Total Likes: 33Total Comments: 9Total Shares: 4,176Data Period: 1/1/2013 – 1/31/2014

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Music & EventReview

Music

The type music is almost a mythical creature. In our database we collected only 635 posts for this type in the given data period. Of course, this is practically nothing compared with the other types. Therefore, we waived a graphical representation. Quite obviously pages don’t like to share music.

Event

Also the post type event is standard practice for pages it rarely creates interactions as a post. Most people liking or commenting on the event page itself and not on an event post. Instead sharing an event post seems to be more common. This fact explains the unbelievable low numbers for likes and comments of this type. Therefore we also skipped a micro graphical evaluation for this type.

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