Biggest drop in Facebook organic reach we have ever seen

Facebook is testing radically different Explore Feed in six countries than in the rest of the world.

Facebook Explore Feed is rolling out globally this week. Most people around the world can see it in their bookmarks and they can discover new content here. But in Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Bolivia, Guatemala and Cambodia it works differently: all posts by pages are moved from newsfeed to Explore Feed. In main newsfeed are now just friend and sponsored posts.

Yes, you log into Facebook and you can see only posts from your friends and ads. You have to click on Explore Feed to see posts from pages you follow.

If you want your Facebook page posts to be seen in old newsfeed, you have to pay.

Consequences?

Pages are seeing dramatic drops in organic reach. Reach of several asked Facebook pages fell on Thursday and Friday by two-thirds compared to previous days.

Sixty biggest Slovak media pages have 4 times fewer interactions (likes, comments, shares) since the test. It looks like the effect in Guatemala and Cambodia is the same.

Interactions on 60 biggest Slovak media Facebook pages. Facebook is testing Explore Feed since Thursday. Source: CrowdTangle.

This is just a regional test, said Facebook spokesperson. He didn’t specify, when will the test end.

Of course, there are a lots of bugs along the way, for example most of the users probably don’t see posts from people they follow, who are not their friends. They are hidden in the old Pages Feed section, which has not been deleted.

This has been going on for a couple of days now. Some users got it few weeks ago, most users have it since the official launch of Explore Feed in the world on Thursday.

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Part 2: What Facebook taught us when it destroyed our organic reach