Social Media Roundup: Facebook Organic Reach Continues to Slide

If you thought it was hard to build out your association’s presence on Facebook, just wait. Harder days appear to be on the horizon as the social network quiets the microphone used to reach your audiences. All that, plus new additions to the company’s tool set, in today’s Facebook-centric Social Media Roundup.

Facebook’s Dwindling Organic Reach

This article does a great job of breaking down the new #Facebook  (opens in a new tab) algorithim and how it impacts #nonprofs  (opens in a new tab) http://t.co/CrAradcTdz  (opens in a new tab)

— Briana Kerensky (@BrianaArden) May 1, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

We’ve covered the increasing difficulty organizations have reaching their fans on Facebook due to algorithm changes. To large companies flush with the cash for marketing campaigns to increase their reach, Facebook’s changes are just another expense. But to many nonprofit and advocacy groups, the changes appear to be an insurmountable hurdle.

The blog Valleywag has a post  (opens in a new tab) from an anonymous social media chief at a “mid-sized international NGO” detailing just how significant the decline in organic reach has been over the past few years.

“Even if an organization’s Page has 10,000 followers, any given item they post might only reach 100-200 of them,” the poster wrote. “In the case of my organization, that ratio is already down from an average of nearly 20% in 2012 to less than 5% today — a 75% reduction.”

Facebook has confirmed that Page managers should expect fewer and fewer fans  (opens in a new tab) to see the content being sent out. But there’s no official confirmation that the social juggernaut eventually will reduce organic reach to 1 or 2 percent  (opens in a new tab) as has been rumored.

Regardless of the final percentage, associations that have placed their eggs in Facebook’s basket will have to cope with smaller audiences, pay to expand their reach, or perhaps move their social media efforts to another platform.

Facebook Logins Expand to Mobile

Here’s what Facebook’s new login means for developers: http://t.co/ze3b4NFvXD  (opens in a new tab) #f8  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/Hm7snUYd29  (opens in a new tab)

— Mashable (@mashable) May 1, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

Facebook isn’t all about curtailing reach though. At yesterday’s F8 Developer Conference, the company debuted a new suite of features and products, the biggest being a revamped mobile login feature.

“When users log in with Facebook, they will be able to control exactly which permissions they grant to apps, or log in anonymously, if the developer makes the option available,” Mashable’s Karissa Bell writes  (opens in a new tab).

But, as Forbes‘ Kashmir Hill reminds us  (opens in a new tab), “anonymous login is not really anonymous.”

“Facebook still knows who you are, and can tie you to your behavior on those third party sites,” Hill writes, so keep that in mind if your association is considering folding Facebook into its mobile app strategy.

And for associations looking for an alternative to their current mobile app monetization efforts, Facebook has launched its own mobile ad platform called the Audience Network.  (opens in a new tab)

(Artistan/ThinkStock)