EdgeRank is not new, but more people are talking about it these days. Let's see if we really need to pay so much attention to EdgeRank.
EdgeRank
For those who have not heard about EdgeRank before, I will quickly explain. EdgeRank is a rating mechanism that determines how much a particular user is interested in other users' posts. The degree of interest is calculated based on the user's activities, i.e., likes, status updates, shares. The posts displayed in the user's Facebook "News Feed" section are sorted according to this degree of interest, called EdgeRank. In a sense, EdgeRank is the same as relevance in search engine rankings. Higher relevance results in higher search rankings; similarly, a higher EdgeRank results in a higher display in the News Feed section.
Optimization
Many businesses that use Facebook have seen the marketing potential of a higher display in the News Feed section, and they are applying all sorts of techniques to get a higher EdgeRank. However, such tactics will be obsolete before too long. Remember Search Engine Optimization? Search engines have been tirelessly working on excluding unethically optimized Web pages and improving the rankings of pages that users really want to see. As history has proven when Google changed the search algorithm, Facebook will also update the algorithm of EdgeRank so that posts that users are really interested in will get higher positions.
Fundamentals
Rather than using superficial optimization techniques found all over the Internet, improving the fundamentals of your website is far more effective. As I have said many times before, the fundamental purpose of online businesses is for Internet users to like them. No matter how highly ranked your activities listed in the News Feed section of Facebook, if people do not like your website, people will not buy from you. On the other hand, as you improve the fundamentals of your website to make Internet users naturally like your website, even though your posts on Facebook will not automatically get a higher EdgeRank, you will be able to make lots of sales. Rethink what you really want: a higher EdgeRank or more profits.
© December, 2013