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What is the Click-GAP?
Attacks on the “integrity” of Facebook and its connected apps (WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger) continue, and the company responds by announcing that they will once again change the algorithms of the News Feed. The reason for this update seems to be to restore credibility to the social platform by blocking misinformation in favor of true and reliable news.
In this regard, a series of actions are planned to promote more reliable news sources, including cracking down on groups that spread false information and providing the public with more information about how Facebook formulates its content policies.
Among the many changes to combat clickbaiting, the most significant is the global introduction of a new metric called click-GAP.
From now on, websites that are disproportionately popular on Facebook compared to the rest of the web will be limited on the platform. In simple terms, the News Feed algorithms, based on this new metric, will consider the popularity of that website on the internet more than its virality on the social network when analyzing post content with links to an external site.
Guy Rosen, Vice President of Integrity at Facebook, and Tessa Lyons, Head of News Feed Integrity, explained the reasons for introducing the click-GAP as follows: “This can be a sign that the domain is succeeding on the News Feed in a way that doesn’t reflect the authority they’ve built outside it and is producing low-quality content.”
The Click-Gap is designed to block the spread of marginal sites that are not optimized to receive direct search traffic but are specifically crafted to appeal to social media algorithms and quickly become viral on Facebook.
The Click-Gap follows the same idea that Google’s co-founders had when they launched their search engine based on Page Rank. This analyzed linking patterns between websites to determine which ones deserved more prominence in search results. Similarly, with the new metric, Facebook will give more importance to links to assess whether a brand’s success on the social platform reflects its success on the broader internet.
Effects on Companies and Brands
What are the direct effects for companies and brands using Facebook and its connected apps to enhance their brand reputation?
If your company is already working according to a digital strategy plan that includes a good integration between the website, SEO/SEM optimization, and social channels, not much will change for you. Otherwise, we recommend that you take action as soon as possible to enhance the reliability of your online reputation. Would you like an analysis of your current situation and some advice on how to build a successful integrated communication strategy for your brand? Feel free to contact us.
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