An observation about Hootsuite and Facebook: Impressions Up or Down?

I’ve used Hootsuite casually for some time.  It's especially helpful if you manage multiple social media accounts and need to save time. That said, I still prefer to Tweet via Twitter and Facebook via Facebook, etc.  There are just some features that seem to only be offered when you’re “on” the aforementioned site.  For example, you can’t seem to “tag” a person or business via Hootsuite for Facebook.  Same goes for adding a photo via Hootsuite for Facebook.  Both of these things (tagging and adding photos) are so important to much of what I do that I end up taking the extra time to go to Facebook and not schedule many things out in advanc

That said, I am only one person! Especially at events, it’s difficult to work an iPhone, camcorder and extra camera at one time.  So, until I can get a bit more help, I’ve had to schedule a few status updates and tweets out in advance for HistoricColumbia (and myself!).

I noticed something with the “new” (or newest, I suppose) Facebook and was wondering if you’d noticed it too…

Status updates scheduled by Hootsuite seemed to generate half as many impressions as my usual updates on my biz page.  Same goes for “networked blogs” posts.  I have to wonder if Facebook is placing priority on status updates that are made “on” Facebook instead of via a third-party app? It would make sense, since there is not nearly as much benefit for Facebook (and Facebook advertisers) if I am not actually visiting Facebook itself to post.

After hearing a few friends mention their business page impressions were also down (via Networked Blog posts on Facebook), I was beginning to think this was the case. 

To confuse me further, last weekend I scheduled tweets for Historic Columbia at every half hour during the day of a big event.  Sounds like a lot, I know, but activities were changing every half hour or so, and I wanted people to stay up-to-date.  I knew the impressions would be down (meaning fewer people may see the updates), but felt like I just balance everything without the help.  Guess what? The impressions were down slightly, but nowhere near the dip I’d seen before.  That made me wonder if Facebook had balanced their algorithm? I hate to borrow a term that is typically used when talking search, but it seemed to make sense in this case.

Anyone else noticed this sort of thing? Are your biz page impressions up or down depending on the tool you’re using? I realize it can also depend on the time of day and post content as well.

Thanks for chiming in!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.