Have you ever been in one of those share groups based on Facebook. You know the ones, you have a post you want to do well so you message the link to a couple of your friends.
Then they share it and it tanks.
Even if it was doing great on your page already, they share it and it goes nowhere?
We’ve been seeing this over time, but it’s something that is hard to confirm for certain! A lot of people have said it’s imagined, that Facebook really isn’t tracking our every single move, we now know for sure they are.
Here’s what happened. My friend Lauren has a post doing well on her Facebook page, so she sent me the link to it and asked me to share it. Here’s the URL she sent:
https://www.facebook.com/themilitarywifeandmom/posts/1072404989482750
I clicked the link in our message, went to see the post, and then copy/pasted the URL from my computer. Guest what though, the URL had changed. FB gave me the following URL instead:
https://www.facebook.com/themilitarywifeandmom/posts/1072404989482750?__mref=message_bubble
See that change at the end? the MESSAGE_BUBBLE ???
They are tracking that I got this link from a message, and then shared it.
Who knows what they do with this information, and I’m sure there will be times it doesn’t tank because it’s been messaged. But it’s definitely being tracked.
So what’s the way around it? Many bloggers do share groups in google docs to avoid FB getting all big brother on us. OR you can simply see the link she shared and then go to the page and share it yourself WITHOUT the extra code. I’m testing that way now. Another option is to just describe it “the meme I just shared on my fb page is doing really well if you want to share it” and things like that can help avoid the Facebook tracking problem.
Be very careful the links you message on Facebook, and make sure you remove the extra code if people message you a link to share!
Because now we have actual proof that Facebook is watching! *wink*
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Lucie says
Wow, I would had never thought of that as a way of tracking shares. I’ll be more aware of those tid bits of codes from now on. Thank you!
Joyce from Live Laugh Love Post says
Whoo… I have no idea about the facebook link that should be tracked. I will check the tracking shares. Thanks!
Katy says
Ooh wow – do you think that they do this within Facebook Groups as well? Thanks for the heads up