June 11, 2014 - Facebook Pages Error - Images won't upload to your Facebook Page

The internet has gone wild this morning because Facebook Pages stopped working. It appears that people are unable to upload photos at this time. Watch the video below for an example:

Meanwhile, software publishing tool GroSocial yesterday reported that their Facebook API (the software used to access Facebook Pages) was not working properly, causing the software to be unable to post anything at all to pages.

Facebook has declined to give an update as of this posting, but it is clear that the problem has escalated from their change in API to the platform itself.

It is still unclear how many people have been affected by this or how long this will last.

Facebook now tells admins how many people a page post is being "served" to.

In an apparent move to be more transparent about Facebook's Newsfeed algorithm, it appears that the text that shows to administrators under each Facebook page post has changed.

It used to read, "x number of people saw this post" and now it reads, "This post was served to x number of people".

As a page administrator for many high profile pages (and low profile pages for that matter), I can say that this is somewhat a relief.  I can't tell you how many people would ask me why their entire population wouldn't "see" a post that we put out on the page. Many times we were asked if we could do anything to make it better, as though it was something we were doing wrong, until we explained Facebook's Newsfeed Algorithm.

Now it is more apparent that Facebook is choosing which of our content to "serve" up to the people who have liked the page and which content is doomed to sit stagnant on our timeline.

There is hope however, besides the apparent "Boost Post" option where you pay Facebook to make sure your content gets into everyone's newsfeed, and that is to post smart.

Facebook's newsfeed algorithm is based on people's "likes and interests" which they fill out when they create a profile.  It also looks at what types of content people engage with not just on your page but on other pages as well. If you have a tendency to click on video links, then you are going to get a LOT more video links in your newsfeed.

If you have an important message to get out to your followers, you should create content that is in alignment with the best posting types on your page, as shown by your Facebook Page insights.

Here's how:

In this case, it looks like our links are being served to the widest audience, so we should continue with this trend. That is great news since we will soon be starting a website for this page.

Interesting also is that our regular status updates (without images or links) get served to the second widest audience, and photos are a close 3rd.

You can also click the "Top Posts from Pages You Watch" to see how other pages' content is being "served" to their audiences.  Overall, I like this new language, as it makes a lot more sense to people about where their content ends up (besides making nice decorations for their Facebook pages).

What are your thoughts or questions?

Important changes coming for Admins of Facebook Pages.

Here is one of the side-effects we experience from managing so many Facebook Pages for our clients: we get to see changes to Facebook Pages before other users.  One such example happened this morning when we logged in to manage a client's page.

We had a notification about some interesting changes coming to Facebook Pages starting February 20, 2014 and only for certain users.

According to Facebook:

On a Page post, the name of the person who posted will be listed below the name of your Page next to Posted by. On a Page comment, the name of the person who commented will be listed below the comment next to Commented on by. 

 Facebook went on to assure users that only people who help manage your Page can see this information. 

You will also be able to see who posted or scheduled posts for your page, taking the guesswork out of who to ask for information.

Apparently it will not affect past posts, only posts that are created after this feature is activated.

My team and I are excited about this feature. Sometimes our clients like to jump on an post and we have a hard time knowing if it was them or one of us. Score one for Facebook!