While it is debatable whether Mark Zuckerberg had a grand plan when it came to leveraging his social networking site into a marketing platform, the fact is that any time over one billion people hang out somewhere, smart marketers will figure out a way to reach them. And while he maintains that it is not the marketing part of the network that he focuses on, the reality is that he continues to make the enhancements that are shaping how marketing is done today, while assuring Facebook’s place as a marketing giant.
The recent Page changes that have been (and continue to be) announced demonstrate Facebook’s commitment. The newest announcement helps people understand how the News Feed works today and explicitly 
explains what may get a Page quarantined. While those of us who use the site for clients have suspected some of these “rules,” it is helpful to have them spelled out. If you want to stay off Facebook’s “Black List,” do NOT:
- Explicitly ask people to like, comment or share your posts.
- Share the same content over and over. (If you want to repeat something important, use different words and different images each time.)
- Use “bait and switch” tactics. (Be honest when telling people where they will end up when they click a link.)
So how does Facebook decide what to show in a News Feed, they rank the post based on the following features:
- Interest of the user and creator.
- The post’s performance against other users.
- Performance of past posts by the creator.
- The type of post – text, photo, link.
- And how new the post is.
For more on what Facebook chooses to post see TechCrunch’s equation
These and other Page changes have helped define how marketing should be done on Social Media platforms. However, it even more reinforces the fact that Zuckerberg and his cohorts continue to care about user experience. In other words, they want Facebook to remain the place people want to hang out.