The Facebook EdgeRank is the nifty name that Facebook has given for their algorithm in determining what content is seen by who and when. That is the one sentence definition. We can break it down a bit further and give you the best understanding of how to incorporate its process into your content plan. Whether its for a brand or if you just want people to see what you have to say its imperative that, if you're on Facebook, you understand how EdgeRank works.

 

I was never good at Math. In fact the last course I had to take to graduate College at Rutgers University was Intermediate Algebra II. I was a student teacher in Expository Writing I and II and had Honors in American Literature, but if you asked me to solve for 'X' I broke out in a cold sweat and started hyperventilating like an overgrown Chiuaua.

These are the three factors that determine your Facebook EdgeRank; Affinity, weight, and time decay. Instead of getting all wordy lets break these down:

Affinity - Is the content in front of the right person? Who is this person? What is your connection to this person? Do you normally comment on each others posts or do you just ignore each other entirely?

Weight - What type of post is it? This is the easiest to understand as it can only be so many things. Its either going to be a comment, like, photo, video, etc. - Whatever Facebook offers. Obviously we're not talking about sponsored media here.

Time Decay - How long has the post been circulating throughout your network? When did you post it? How many actions has it received in the first 10 minutes? How about the first hour?

This law applies to brands, personal pages, and Facebook mobile. If you were ever wondering why that well-written joke you wrote got 2 likes, but that reference to the popular TV Show got 30 this is exactly why.

People tend to share things they have in common and have a high affinity for. If your content relates to a mass audience and that audience can reciprocate then you might have a shot at social media success. Combining elements of mass appeal to personal branding becomes part of the secret sauce of social media that I specialize in, but we'll save that for another day.

For now understanding the technology is the key. Some like to use social media just for entertainment and networking purposes without fully understanding how it works. That's totally acceptable as most people don't need that information, but for those who have it? They'll flourish. They can use this space to make dreams come true. And that sounds immensely corny and lame, but it is accurate.

I'll prove it.