There has been a lot of heat in the small business industry these past 2 weeks about a topic that I think very likely, no one else has heard anything about!  But I wanted to write about it this week because it has really been on my mind, and the changes were planned to take place yesterday.

A little back story: for a couple of years now, Facebook has used algorithms for your news feed. In other words, you don’t see everything that your friends post; facebook chooses for you from everyone you like and follow and are friends with what it thinks you want to see. It does this based on your previous interactions with those friends/pages/groups, and then also the popularity of posts. So if you have a friend who is posting adorable images of their kids but they don’t have a lot of fb friends, you might never see those posts if you don’t ever like or comment on them because they aren’t getting a lot of traction. You also might have another friend who shares lots of political posts from others that are “trending” on facebook, and every one of those shows up on your feed whether you would like them to or not!  This is why there is lots of sponsoring posts going on now- you can pay facebook to show your posts to more people.  Genius marketing for them, and sad for all of us!

Because of this, and because it’s a really fun platform, Instagram has gained popularity for small businesses the last few years because it uses a strictly  chronological order- you see everything everyone you follow has posted in the order they posted. But Instagram announced a few weeks ago that they were moving to the same model of facebook because they think popular posts were getting lost in people’s feed. It is a two way street, and I can see both sides. But as a small business owner, it is a little scary, because especially if you don’t have a huge following (like me), it is very possible that my posts won’t be seen by those following me and those who want to.

So many small business owners and friends alike have been posting images or reminders asking their followers to “turn on post notifications”. And my initial instinct was to do the same- actually, I made a cute graphic on and posted it on Instagram and was feeling ready to conquer the issue here! And then less than a minute later, I deleted it, and know I will not post it again. See, here is the thing. Those notifications will make every post I make appear in my follower’s newsfeed- and if they do that for everyone they are following, suddenly their days will be taken up by even more phones beeping, pulling their attention away from their day to day, looking at their phones.  And while I am completely flattered if someone DOES want to turn them on, I am not going to ask my friends, my “tribe” if you will, to do so. Because here is the thing. My business has never been one with just tons and tons of followers of huge quantity. What I do have is extreme quality.  Almost each blog I post, I hear from old clients, friends, people that I don’t even know in emails or messages about something or another about the post- I am so thankful for my readers, and I know they are out there! And there are so many ways to combat this problem with algorithms that don’t have to do with notifications clogging up your feed.  Instagram and Facebook will show you what they think you like- so when you see posts you like, or people posting that you want to make sure you keep seeing, the best thing you can do is interact! Click that like button (or the new love button) or leave a little comment! If you think it’s a really important post that resonates with you, feel free to share!

I have a list of blogs that I go to each day or two in my limited free time because I like what they have to say so much, because I know that I will learn and grow as a result from reading.  So try to remember/bookmark/add to your rss feed those blogs for you- and that is a great way to make sure you don’t miss anything! You can also subscribe to most blogs (for mine, the button is right at the bottom of the post!) and get them by email if you would rather to make sure you don’t miss anything and can read whenever you want.

Friends, in the end, my message here is that I want to be the breath of fresh air and moment of encouragement in your day when you grab a second to read a blog post or see a sneak peek or moment of my family life.  So keep joining me and checking back, interacting if you like something or sharing your thoughts, and that is the best way to keep track of the people in your feed you don’t want to lose.  Just like in real life- checking in regularly, and sharing in life together!  I am so thankful you are sharing in this with me.