As it seemingly continues to lose ground to TikTok, where more people choose to spend their social media time, Facebook is constantly trying to figure out new ways to keep people engaged and glued to their app instead. The latest in Facebook’s experiments comes in the form of new Stories-like notification bubbles within your Notifications tab, alerting you to newly shared posts by your friends.
Bubble Pop
Based on an example shared by social media expert Matt Navarra, some Facebook users on iOS are now seeing these new alerts at the top of their Notification stream, doubling as quick links to the latest posts from your connections. Also, when you tap through on the profile images from these new alerts, you’re then taken to a listing of that user’s latest posts, making it easier to stay up to date with specific users.
It could be a good way to maximize engagement, reminding users that their most important connections are still active within the app, while simultaneously helping avoid possible algorithmic re-ordering issues. It could also be a good way to simply catch up with people, conveniently bringing you up to speed with whatever it is they’ve recently been posting. However, at the same time, it does feel a little needy, having to resort to Stories-style notifiers to boost in-app engagement.
While there’s some practical value to it, it might still not be enough to deter people from going to TikTok and spending more time on Facebook instead. What Facebook really needs to work on in this regard is how it can come up with more compelling reasons to have people stick around, as opposed to them just being content by quickly popping in daily to check if there is new stuff that is worth a look.
To note, Facebook did gain 31 million more users in Q1 of 2022, which is great news for the platform since it posted a decline in users in its previous update. Meta’s stock tanked at that announcement and while it has seemingly recently recovered, Meta’s data hasn’t shared how long new users actually spend time on the app. Do they just bop in and spend longer on other apps after? If so, that greatly reduces Facebook’s unmatched reach. It’s a simple equation for Facebook: the less time people spend on the app = less ad exposure. The last time Facebook shared an update with regards to average time spent was way back in 2016. The fact that Meta has since not updated this figure suggests that it hasn’t changed much or worse.
The Wrap
Retrospectives such as these are interesting because it allows you to take a look at how trends and app interactions evolve over time. Knowledge of such elements lets you build more flexible approaches to try and absorb any sudden changes involved in shifts and behavior, somewhat keeping your results consistent, regardless of events.
In any case, this new format also somewhat aligns with Meta’s goal to win back younger audiences, with the Stories format now more native to many than the traditional News Feed.
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