I follow quite a few TV stations on Facebook. I not only get story ideas for my Market Share blog, but it acts as a kind of a national news feed. There’s another car chase in California. I monitor the lava flow in Hawaii. And it snowed in the mountains of Montana. But depending on […]
I follow quite a few TV stations on Facebook. I not only get story ideas for my Market Share blog, but it acts as a kind of a national news feed.
There’s another car chase in California.
I monitor the lava flow in Hawaii.
And it snowed in the mountains of Montana.
But depending on whether I’m on Facebook on my cell phone or my laptop, the feed is radically different. Why is that? Isn’t it the same Facebook, my Facebook?
As a very unscientific experiment, I decided to see what would happen when I jumped back and forth between my laptop and my cellphone on Facebook.
I did this a couple days ago about 2 o’clock in the afternoon here in Philly. Whenever I went to Facebook on either device, I made sure to hit ‘Most Recent,” thinking that would “sync-up” the posts to make them more alike.
It didn’t.
On my cellphone, there was an abundance of “feel-good” stories from local stations, random acts of kindness and people overcoming incredible odds to succeed.
Why is that? Does Facebook know I like these types of stories?
The following stories may have since gone viral, posted by other stations in their broadcast group:
WFAA Dallas — A non-verbal local high school senior with autism delivers a six-minute speech at graduation.
WBZ Boston — A businesswoman with Down syndrome employs worker with disabilities.
WTFV Nashville — A viewer generated video from the Nashville Zoo.
After a few minutes of following Facebook on my cell, I switched to Facebook on my laptop, and hit “Most Recent.”
None of the posts I was just seeing on Facebook on my cell were displayed.
Here’s one of the feel-good stories from my laptop.
WFXT Boston — A viewer captured a moose swimming under a waterfall.
So what does this mean for stations?
Does your station have a different strategy for handling your Facebook feed whether it’s on a cell or laptop?
Has Facebook’s role in your shop changed?
NOTE: At the upcoming PromaxBDA Station Summit later this month, there is a session about Facebook, Inside Facebook Journalism Project: 2018 Priorities for News and Video.
I’ll be sure to attend.
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