For those of us who are using Facebook to help promote ourselves and our writing, we know how important it is to have a significant amount of interaction on your posts. But did you know that not all interaction is the same? It’s not, and getting the wrong interaction can do more to hurt you than to help.

We’re all familiar with the like button and the emojis associated with it, did you know depending on which one you choose, it will affect how many other people see that post? By choosing the wrong emoji, fewer people will be able to view what you posted.

So how does that work?

I’m sure you’ve seen post where people are complaining that FaceBook only lets your top 25 friends see the posts. This is both true, and false. Let’s take a closer look and see how it works.

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Here is what we see when we what to react to a post. There are seven emojis. Four are good, and three are bad. If you choose any of the first four: the like, the heart, the hug, or the laugh, then you will be sending a message to the Facebook algorithm that the post is a good one and more people should see it, If, however, you choose one of the last three: the gasp, the tears, or the angry face, you do the opposite and let the algorithm know this isn’t such a great post and maybe others don’t need to be seeing it.

When a post first comes out, your top 25 followers, or interactors, see it first. If you receive likes or comments, it grows to the next level of 100 top followers. After that, If there is still interest through likes and comments, it goes to all follows.

This can present a problem when someone reacts to a post in the wrong way. Let’s say you posted something about a robbery where someone was killed. I can and saw the post and it made me made that anyone could do such a thing, so I selected the angry face. I have just sent a signal to Facebook that this post isn’t what I want to see. If others also select a gasp, tear, or angry face, and there are 1/3 or more “negative” emojis, the post will de-popularize.

There isn’t much we can do to prevent followers from choosing the wrong emoji and sending the wrong message other than educate.
Educate. Educate. EDUCATE!
You can spread the word, correct misinformation when you see a post that says only the top 25 see it and chooses the right emoji yourself. The whole reason for the new (or newer) hug emoji, was to give an option to the tears, angry and mad face… one that would show support.

So the next time you “like” someone’s post, pause for a minute before you tell that robber how mad you are with an angry face. Are you selecting that face because you don’t want to support the post and think it would better serve to not be promoted? If not, maybe choose the hug or a simple “like.”

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