Why We Don’t Whine About Facebook Algorithm Changes…and You Shouldn’t Either

If there’s one constant in the publishing industry it’s this: change.

Technology and culture march ever forward. Concepts go in and out of vogue. Ideas that were fantastically successful one year are mocked the next. Change made ViralNova soar to the top of the charts in 2014, be acquired for a reported $100m in 2015 and then drop off the radar. Change made Elite Daily become a household name, be acquired for $40m by Daily Mail, and then be written off as nearly worthless.

And then there other publishers that consistently see change coming, adapt, and are stronger for it. Buzzfeed of course comes to mind, but Little Things and 22 Words have also been around for years and are still ranked among the top mobile sites in the country.

Change either makes or breaks a company. And over time, it can often end up doing both.

So, about Facebook’s last algorithm change…

Big changes happened a couple weeks ago over at Facebook to combat “low-quality web pages.” This change had a bigger impact than expected across the board for publishers, low-quality and otherwise, since it affects paid posts as well as organic.

Here’s the issue: boosted posts that were approved before are now being rejected due to “too many ads.” Many publishers started panicking. We’ve even heard that some banded together and threatened lawsuits. Like other publishers we had some of our ads rejected, too, so we got on the phone with Facebook to find out exactly what’s going on.

But here’s the big difference between us and the more litigious publishers out there: We like working with Facebook. We even trust them (…mostly). So our calls with them go very differently than those who are threatening litigation.

Here’s what we know from Facebook.

We already know they’re fighting against fake news and ad farms. That’s good. (Right? Does anyone really want to disagree with that?) But what does that mean? What’s the actual criteria?

Our sources tell us there’s a specific focus right now on two culprits. Warnings of “too many ads” have always been around, but now they seem to be focused on two specific types of ads: (1) content recommendation widgets (like Revcontent, Outbrain, and Taboola) and (2) popups.

Facebook’s new policy makes total sense

Have you ever clicked on an ad from one of those content widgets? I did once and I still regret it. They can be the worst. They’re often spammy, manipulative, and gross. The pages often redirect you to other pages. And then they turn into direct offers for muscle pills or cognitive enhancement or…other kinds of enhancement.

I can hear it already: “Then why do you have them on your site?”

The answer is simple: We prefer not to go out of business.

We don’t like those ads any more than our readers do. It’s a problem for publishers across the industry who operate sustainably and profitably rather than on other people’s money.

And now with one simple clarification to their policy, Facebook has made it easier for publishers like us to succeed.

So thanks, Facebook!

Even though we all hated those ads it was an arms race. We had to put them on because so many others use them. Very few of us could compete at all without them. And nobody could compete profitably without them.

But now?

Now publishers have the freedom to improve their user experience without killing revenue and losing to the competition. Sure, losing these annoying ads hurts revenue in the short term, but if everyone is losing them? Then it’s a level playing field.

So this is fantastic news.

Publishers in our space can remove the worst offenders without putting their business at risk. Yes, revenue will be affected momentarily, but then auction pressure will decline and things will level out.

The game we’re playing isn’t set in stone. For better or worse, Facebook is big enough to change the rules and that can be jarring. But in this case, as in many others, the rule changes make the game better for anyone who’s adaptable and willing to play along.

Embrace change

Change is the only way to survive. Why complain?

Every change is an opportunity to pivot and find new previously inaccessible paths to improvement.

Facebook is making the industry better. Perhaps not with every single tweak, since it’s constant experimentation, but in general I believe that’s true. They are big enough to be able to make user-focused choices that won’t kill their business. And then they can make industry-shaking choices that affect all of us, and…make things better for our readers, too.

Of course, I’m oversimplifying the whole process and ignoring the fact that despite the overall, net improvements, change is still hard. But in my experience part of the way to deal with change is to oversimplify it. If I constantly remind myself that change makes things better for readers and will improve business over time…then it’s more likely to become true.

It certainly does not help, no matter how panicked my people or I may feel in a given moment of weakness, to deny that things are changing or fight against the inevitable. That’s how businesses fail.

So here’s what we did

When we began to hear the rumors of another algorithm change coming down the pike, we were a little nervous. And when we got the rejections, we were frustrated. Strongly believing in the value of change doesn’t all of the sudden make it easy.

But then it didn’t take long to remember that this has happened countless times and every time we’ve come out stronger.

So we rolled out changes to ensure immediate compliance with Facebook’s new and improved policies as we understood them. We also expressed our concerns to Facebook and requested some clarifications. They responded positively to our questions and met with us to work through these issues.

Simple as that. We changed with change.

Everyone wins, so what’s next?

The net result of all this is that Facebook wins. And that’s OK with me and most of my publisher friends because we’re not competing with Facebook. In fact, our goals are remarkably aligned.

Facebook and publishers win when our users — our people — win. And with almost every change from Facebook, giving users exactly what they want becomes an increasingly feasible goal.

Yes, the unexpected pivots that Facebook makes can feel like a setback in the moment, but we love the results. In fact, since the last algorithm change was already a couple weeks ago, we’re ready for the next one.

Whatcha got for us, Facebook?