Decoding The Social Media Algorithms In 2019. The Ultimate Guide

Here’s a great article on Algorithms in the social media world. I have listed the bullet points below for each of the social media segments. The ultimate guide.

What do we know about the Facebook algorithm in 2019?

• Despite what we originally thought, Facebook confirmed it doesn’t share your content with initially 26 people

• A post is served to a small percentage of users to measure initial engagement

• The Facebook algorithm will prioritize content that stimulates a conversation between friends and family

• It will prioritize links shared over Messenger

• The credibility of a user (completeness of their page, history of sharing, etc) is a ranking factor

• Brand or publisher content that is shared by a user and generates further discussion will be prioritized

• It will prioritize live video because it receives more interactions

• Native video posts receive much more engagement than a link post

• Engagement is based on a points system

• Posts with long-form comments will receive a higher weighting

• Native content takes precedence over links to other sites

• Posting five times a day seems to be the optimal amount according to a Buffer study

• Clickbait and asking people to ‘like, comment or share’ your content will receive a markdown

• Sensationalist content will be marked down by the algorithm

• The Facebook algorithm will down rank articles with false headlines

What do we know about the Twitter algorithm?

• Timing is heavily weighted in the Twitter algorithm

• Profile credibility is favored in the algorithm

• Using the 280 character limit increase engagement rates

• Native content is likely to take precedence over links to other sites through links still can get shared

• Tweets from people you engage with the most will show first

• A tweet is served to a small percentage of users to measure the initial engagement

• Likes, replies, and retweets are likely to have a weighting score

• Time spent reading someone’s tweets or visiting their profile will impact the content you see even if you don’t engage with it

• The more you engage with people and the more they engage back makes the algorithm show any further tweets in their timeline (if they are following you)

What do we know about the LinkedIn algorithm?

• Native content takes precedence over links to other sites

• Content will be shown to the most relevant people in your network by matching skills, industry and who you’re connected with

• Content will be shown to people who have engaged with you on LinkedIn in the past and who you interact with the most frequently

• Likes, comments, and shares are likely to have different weightings

• The key to going viral is to get the algorithm to show your content to your 2nd and 3rd-degree network

• A post is served to a small percentage of users to measure the initial engagement

• One sentence paragraphs of personal narratives still do well as a viral mechanism

• Content with high engagement will be analyzed by LinkedIn staff and potentially opened up to a wider audience (though human analysis can be subjective)

What do we know about the Instagram algorithm in 2019?

• When first published, a post is shown to a select group of followers to gauge engagement

• The three most important factors are 1. Interest (the more the Instagram algorithm thinks you’ll like a post the more likely you’ll see it), 2. Timelines (it prioritizes recent posts) and 3. Relationship (if you like and comment a lot it will assume you’re friends and family)

• Posting regularly will help you feature higher in users’ timelines and it won’t down rank people who post a lot

• It doesn’t favor users who use Stories, Live or other special features

• Posts shared via DM will be ranked by the algorithm

• Comments are weighted more than likes alone

• Optimizing a post using the 30 hashtag limit will make it more discoverable though you shouldn’t use the same hashtags for each post

• The genres of content you interact with most will be shown higher

• Hashtags still work in the algorithm but mainly for the Explore page

• An established and engaged community will improve each post’s credibility

• Actively engaging with other people’s content (via likes and comments) helps drive people and further engagement to your profile

• The longer users spend on the post the more algorithmic credibility it has

What do we know about the YouTube algorithm in 2019?

• Total watch time and audience retention are important ranking factors

• Upload frequency is an important factor and those who upload consistently are rewarded

• A recently uploaded video is served to a small percentage of users to measure the initial engagement

• The more subscribers you have, the more priority the YouTube algorithm places on your videos

• The more views your videos have, the more priority the YouTube algorithm places on them

• The more views a channel has, the more priority the YouTube algorithm places on it

• Video likes/dislikes and comments are important ranking signals

• The title, description, and keyword tags are important ranking factors

• Videos that are 7-16 mins are the optimal length

• The YouTube algorithm is AI. It learns, understands and expands