Story Bump is a new tweak in Facebook’s algorithm that brings posts with heightened engagement back to the forefront of your fans’ news feeds. This means that posts receiving a lot of comments, likes and shares, no matter how old the post may be, will be bumped back to the top for more views and (the hopes) even more engagement.
Although this new algorithm tweak is awesome for marketers, as you can imagine, it does present some disadvantages for organizations experiencing heightened negativity on their Facebook Fan Page.
Facebook Story Bump is something your crisis team needs to be aware of
It’s important that your crisis team be aware of this new algorithm tweak so that they can plan to expect additional views and attention on any negativity that is garnering a lot of engagement. Although Facebook Story Bumping is not something you can prevent, it is something you can need to plan for and be aware of.
The secret to not suffering too much reputational damage with this new algorithm lies within your crisis team’s response to negative issues and crises unfolding on your Facebook Fan Page, in real-time.
Remember: The faster you respond with honesty, compassion and real care and concern, the faster the negativity will transform into neutral or positive engagements, and the better the outcome will be for your organization’s reputation.
Next steps
Make sure your crisis team is aware of this new algorithm tweak and that your organization’s crisis communications plan is up to date.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
What this story points out is that when you rely on Facebook, you're not relying on your own website. Fabevook will do with your page what they want to do with your page. Does this mean that If Facebook, for some reason, decides it doesn't like you, it can run the nastiest posts about your business right to the top. Sounds like it to me.
Another reason that the first thing my clients learn is that they need to buy their own URL, their own hosting and put up their own website (hire me to build a site for them). This goes not only for Facebook, but for Twitter, for LinkedIn, hosted WP blogs, etc., etc., etc.
Hi Joelin,
You make good points, but they are not a new revolution. Organizations need to understand that social media channels are a "rented" space rather than owned. However, they are still effective and necessary tools for crisis communications. The point of this post (and all of my posts of this type) is to alert organizations of the changes made or coming to Facebook (and other channels) in order to be able to make educated and wise decisions – and to know what to expect in a crisis.
The main communications of any crisis should always be posted to the corporate website, be it the blog, news room, media room, etc.