Get the facts on upcoming Facebook and Twitter changes

The following post, at the link below:
http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2014/12/social-media-mondayhow-facebook-changes.html

is full of misinformation.  The author of that post gives no links to back up the

wild claims that facebook is getting ready to start charging page owners for posts that seem to be an ad.

A quote from the post:

In 2015, they are about to charge businesses a monthly fee to advertise on Facebook through business pages.

When I first ran across this post about a couple of weeks ago, I then researched it.  Unlike many others, I did not wildly start panicking and sharing the post.  I headed to google and did some solid research.  Something the author of the above mentioned post obviously did not do.  

To get some real information, please refer to the following links.  Quotes from said link appear below the link:

My first link, to a post from facebook itself:

https://www.facebook.com/business/news/update-to-facebook-news-feed

One of the main reasons people come to Facebook is to see what’s happening in their News Feeds. Our goal with News Feed has always been to show people the things they want to see. When people see content that’s relevant to them, they’re more likely to be engaged with News Feed, including stories from businesses.

That’s why we often look to people on Facebook to tell us how we can improve. As part of an ongoing survey, we asked hundreds of thousands of people how they feel about the content in their News Feeds. People told us they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-facebook-rules-will-sting-entrepreneurs-1417133694

The change will make it more difficult for entrepreneurs like Ms. Bossie, the founder of four-year-old Earthegy, to reach fans of their Facebook pages with marketing posts that aren’t paid advertising.

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/11/how-facebooks-changes-in-paid-advertising-will-affect-your-marketing-efforts-draft.html

Facebook executives drew a line in the proverbial sand on Friday when they announced their plans to restructure the way posts placed by brands appear in newsfeeds. As if it hasn't been hard enough to gain organic reach, Facebook has essentially closed the door on anything other than paid advertising. Starting in January, as Facebook told marketers, if you want to reach customers on Facebook, you'll need to buy an ad. This change could arguably be long overdue for commercial brands raking in revenue at minimal advertising cost, but if you're a band on a budget or a musician trying to jumpstart a career, and you plan on using Facebook to reach your fans, it looks like you'll need to adjust your finances accordingly. 

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-news-feed-unpaid-ads-20141114-story.html

The latest change made to Facebook’s News Feed comes not off the back of complaints about paid advertising, but off page posts that “feel too promotional,” according to an update on the Facebook blog.

The change, which was made in response to survey data, aims to reduce the number of unpaid promotional posts users see in their feed. Facebook said this will not increase the number of paid ads users see when they log into Facebook; it will just show fewer promotional posts.

And this last link, from Forbes, contains the best info of all:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/12/09/recent-facebook-and-twitter-changes-that-affect-marketers/

There’ve been some significant shake-ups at Facebook and Twitter recently; in this article, I’ll outline some of the most significant changes business owners and marketers can expect to see in the coming months.

Facebook: No More Promotional Posts

Many marketers already take advantage of Facebook’s promoted posts as a way to get content in front of more fans. However, Facebook recently made an announcement about reducing overly promotional posts in users’ newsfeeds.

This change applies to organic posts from your Page – not to paid promoted posts. Facebook has said they’re cracking down on posts that are “too promotional”, meaning:

Posts that push people to buy a product or app

Posts that push people to enter a contest without context

Posts that reuse ad content

In other words, if you’re used to pushing your products or services on Facebook, now’s a good time to stop. According to the announcement, the goal is to limit the amount of promotional content users see in their feeds; except ads will continue to be shown, of course.

What This Means for Business Owners: Continue to ensure that the majority of what you post on Facebook is non-promotional in nature. When you do want to promote a product, contest or sale, try to use language that isn’t overtly ‘salesly’.

Twitter: Filtered Feed May Be Coming Soon

If you thought Facebook was the only network with a filtered feed, think again. According to a recent Wall Street Journal post, it sounds like a filtered stream on Twitter is in the works.

And here is the link to the Wall Street Journal post mentioned above:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/09/03/twitters-product-checklist-better-search-and-group-chats/

An algorithm-driven content feed. A souped-up search engine. Group chatting.

These appear to be among Twitter’s priorities to make its service more relevant and easier to use, an issue that has plagued the company ever since its IPO last year.

 What this change really means is that you'll have to work a bit harder to get your page posts noticed. But the whole goal of a page is to get people coming

** to the page. ** 

If people come to your page, this won't matter diddly. What does build a page is the same thing that builds a blog -- sharing content on a regular basis -- It's not something that happens overnight. It takes time and dedicated work. But it's doable.

Anyone who gives you the idea that you're going to be charged for just having a page, or that Facebook is going to become a page nazi and start charging you for any page posts that seem like an ad -- all that is just so much nonsense.

Some of pages 'free ride' on facebook, with ads disguised as posts, those posts will have restricted presence as far as showing up in people's newsfeed.  Facebook has recently instituted changes to the home page newsfeed that give users greater control in making sure that what shows up in their newsfeed is stuff that they're interested in.  I know this for a fact because I've been using these new controls to tweak my own newsfeed for a couple of months now.  Some advertisers, even their paid ads won't show up in my newsfeed because I have blocked them from my newsfeed.

What amazes me is how people have read this one post, and instead of doing some research like I have done, they panicked and started sharing the post willy-nilly.  As you can tell from above, what I say is backed up by personal experience and posts from solid sources.  Hope this post helps everyone out in understanding things better.
--jd--