Facebook presents the Widely Viewed Content Report
Facebook releases its first-ever analysis on the most popular items in its users’ news feeds. Facebook just released a study that provides the first-ever look into what material in people’s news feeds get the most views. The study that was released today is the first in a series. It focuses on the most popular domains, links, sites, and postings in the United States. When material shows on a user’s screen for any period of time, it is counted as a view.
Industry insiders believe that the study falls short of expectations, although there are some intriguing findings. At the conclusion, we’ll take a look at their arguments. Let’s take a look:
The Report on Widely Viewed Content on Facebook
The objective of this first quarterly report, according to Facebook, is to offer clarity about what individuals see in their news feed.
Here are a few key points to remember:
-The material that receives the most views is not always the one that receives the greatest interaction.
-People view 57 percent of postings from their family and friends.
-Posts with links accounted for less than a quarter of all content views.
– The most popular news domains receive 0.31 percent of all article views. By far the most popular domain is mainstream media.
Domains with the most visitors
The top 20 domains by content views are shown in Facebook’s complete report. Here are the top five, in no particular order, for the sake of brevity.
- youtube.com (181.3M views)
- amazon.com (134.6M views)
- unicef.org (134.4M views)
- gofundme.com (124.8M views)
- twitter.com (116.1M views)
The top 20 links are included again in Facebook’s report. Here’s a quick rundown of the top five.
- https://www.playeralumniresources.com (87.2M views)
- https://purehempshop.com/collections/all (72.1M views)
- https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/unicef-responding-covid-19-india (62.7M views)
- https://myincrediblerecipes.com (58.9M views)
- https://reppnforchrist.com/ (51.6M views)
You’re not alone if you’re confused as to why some of these strange links are the most popular on Facebook in the United States. According to evidence, these can be spam pages.
Responses to the Facebook Report
The response to this report has been overwhelmingly negative.
Ethan Zuckerman writes a severe assessment of the report in an essay circulating on Twitter right now, claiming that the data doesn’t tell us anything helpful.
“But it doesn’t share enough data that we can come to any meaningful conclusions. If the domain list included a thousand URLs, perhaps, we might be able to compare attention to a mainstream news site like CNN to a fringe newssite like the Dan Bongino podcast. But with only 20 domains – 13 of which should probably not appear in the set, as they’re generic to the point of meaninglessness – it’s very hard to know what’s going on.”
Another reason why this data disappoints industry professionals is the fact that certain URLs appear at the top of the list.
Take, for example, purehempshop.com. A New York Times writer revealed that a celebrity spamming affiliate links was the reason for the high number of views.
Perhaps, some time later Facebook shall consider the complaint and concerns in the future when drafting reports. Even if nothing else, it’s fascinating to see how many visits a page can get with a basic text post. The report’s data was collected between April 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021 by the Facebook.