SOCIAL
Meta Releases Latest, Baffling ‘Widely Viewed Content’ Report
Okay *cracks knuckles* let’s see what the most popular links were on Facebook over the last quarter.
Today, Meta has published its latest ‘Widely Viewed Content Report’, which highlights the most-viewed organic content in Facebook Feeds by US-based users throughout the first quarter of 2022.
Meta came up with the report to counter the narrative that its algorithms help to amplify right-wing and extremist content, which is largely in response to this Twitter profile which highlights the most shared Facebook links each day, and has been widely quoted in such criticism.
The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:
1. TMZ
2. 11Alive
3. E! News
4. Ben Shapiro
5. ABC News
6. TMZ
7. People
8. The Hollywood Reporter
9. Good Morning America
10. Bloomberg— Facebook’s Top 10 (@FacebooksTop10) May 15, 2022
Meta published its first Widely Viewed Content Report last August, and since then, it hasn’t really helped to dispel any such concerns, with many of the links included in its most-shared listings removed by Facebook’s moderators for violating platform policies.
So how does this latest update fare on this front?
Not great:
As you can see in this element, which lists the most widely viewed links from Facebook referrals in Q1, two of the top shared URLs were eventually found to be in violation of Facebook policy – after they’d gleaned a cumulative 60 million impressions via Facebook traffic.
That’s not ideal – but don’t worry, Meta has also updated its methodology on this element to ensure that it more accurately reflects what users are actually seeing in the app, with links that don’t render previews no longer being counted in this category moving forward.
The above listing uses the old methodology, while this listing uses the new process:

Oh. That’s not any better.
As you can see, 6 of the top 20 most shared links on Facebook in Q1 were eventually found to be in violation of Facebook’s policies, but they had already received a collective 112 million views before Facebook’s moderators removed them.
So the report shows that Meta is amplifying questionable content, but we have no way of knowing exactly what that content is or was because Meta has chosen not to report the details.
Though it did provide this explanation:
“In this report, there were pieces of content that have since been removed from Facebook for violating our policies of Inauthentic Behavior. The removed links were all from the same domain, and links to that domain are no longer allowed on Facebook.”
Further investigation has found that the domain in question is a spammy news site called Naye News, which has never appeared in Facebook’s listings before.

But Facebook itself chose not to report the full detail, avoiding the full context here.
So the value of the report is…?
This has been the key question about the report since its inception, with Meta actually scrapping an initial version of its Widely Viewed Content listing because it reinforced the existing criticisms of the app, rather than helped to dispute the negative impacts of Facebook’s amplification.
It’s hard to see this data doing anything else, with Facebook’s own internal insights showing that content against its own rules is getting huge reach, even if it is eventually removed.
In looking at the other links on this list, there are COVID conspiracy theories, Minion memes, political activist films, and ‘Zillow Gone Wild’.
It’s not great – and while Meta says that the most popular links ‘ranged from humor, culture, to DIY’, the truth, in its own data, is that misinformation, divisive content and other material that violates its own rules is being amplified by its systems.
Of course, Meta says that this is still only a fraction of what people see in its apps.
“Even though our most viewed content might have a very large number of content viewers, as measured as a percentage of all of Facebook content viewers, they represent only a small fraction of total views in Feed in the US that quarter. In short, it is uncommon for different people to see the same content in their Feed.”
That may be true, but the impact is still significant – and as we’ve noted previously the comparative flaw in this report, versus the daily top 10 most shared links listing, is that this is the most shared content over a three month period, when news stories will only be relevant day-to-day. Sure, you might see a recipe post get more clicks, cumulatively, over a month, but a divisive news story will only generate traffic for a tiny fraction of the time, making direct comparisons difficult.
Meta does also share a listing of the most viewed domains to provide some transparency on this front, but the variability of the specific URLs within each also makes this hard to measure.

What YouTube clips were being shared? What TikTok clips? What tweets? In aggregate, this may show that, say, Fox News is not as popular as the daily Top 10 list may suggest. But it’s still not overly transparent as to what Facebook’s systems seek to amplify.
Which is the key element here. Meta’s essentially trying to shift the narrative that its algorithms amplify divisive, questionable, harmful content – yet its own data doesn’t really reflect that. The fact of the matter is that the content that performs best on Facebook is content that inspires emotional response, and anger is a key driver in inspiring engagement activity.
News publishers have shifted their approaches to lean into this, knowing that if they take a more partisan stance, that will trigger even more debate, and drive stronger sharing performance in the app. So while Meta may be keen to point out that such content ‘represents only a small fraction of total views in Feed’, the indisputable truth is that the entire news ecosystem has been changed by Meta’s algorithmic amplification, which incentivizes more divisive, argumentative and misleading takes.
Meta can try all that it wants to put its hands in the air and say that it’s a people problem, that it’s not responsible for what people share in its apps. But the attempt to counter these criticisms with its own, alternative, selective reportage is, as displayed in this data set, largely useless.
There are real problems with the online news ecosystem, and the incentive systems that digital platforms have embedded. Acknowledging such is a key step in finding solutions – whereas countering such in this form seems like a stubborn, protectionist approach that avoids the core problems at play.
You can read Meta’s Widely Viewed Content Report for Q1 2022 here.
SOCIAL
Threads Looks Set to be Made Available to European Users Next Week

Good news with EU social media fans, with Threads looking set for a December 14th launch in the region, just in time to capitalize on holiday engagement.
As reported by The Verge, EU Instagram users can now access a countdown timer at www.threads.net, which seemingly indicates the exact time for the upcoming EU launch. Meta hasn’t made any official announcement, but the countdown clock is only visible to European users, while EU users can also search ‘ticket’ in the Instagram app to find a digital invitation to Threads.
Which replicates the original Threads launch back in July, which included similar Easter eggs and indicators pointing to the launch date (like the above).
The EU launch of Threads has been delayed by evolving EU data privacy regulations, which, due to the timing of the implementation of these new rules, has put additional development burden on the Threads team to ensure compliance with the new parameters. Amid the initial Threads launch, Instagram (and Threads) chief Adam Mosseri said that it could take “many months” for Threads to reach EU users due to these additional complications.
But we have since seen indicators that Threads is coming.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had an established plan to launch Threads to EU users in December, while app researchers have found various references to an upcoming “Threads EU Launch” in the app’s code.

Given the various strands of evidence, it does indeed seem likely that European users will get access to the app next week. And again, with social media usage increasing during the holiday break, that would also provide the best opportunity for Meta to capitalize on its opportunities.
Which are seemingly on the rise. As more people turn away from Elon Musk’s X project, largely due to Musk’s own divisive commentary, they’re seeking a real-time social alternative, and for many Threads is already filling that void.
That’s especially true for journalists, a common target of Musk’s attacks, who are now establishing new networks within the Threads ecosphere. And while live sports engagement remains high on X, Threads is also making a push to win over more sports communities, even placing ads courtside during the new NBA in-season tournament showcase in Las Vegas.

That’s seemingly prompting more sports fans to post in the app, which will expand again with the arrival of potentially millions more users in the EU region.
So how many more users can Threads expect to gain as a result of its European expansion?
Based on Meta’s EU disclosure data on active users, Instagram currently serves some 259 million monthly active users in Europe.
Instagram’s total, official user count is 1 billion MAU, while Threads now has over 100 million monthly users. So presumably, around a tenth of active IG users are also signing up to the app, which would mean that, at a rough estimate, we’re set to see around 25.9 million new Threads users incoming, if/when Threads is launched in the EU region.
Which is probably not as many as you might expect, but this is based on rough estimates, as Instagram reportedly has more than a billion actives now, and we don’t know the exact, current user counts of either app.
But either way, it will expand the conversation in the app, and enable more people to take part, which has its own expanded benefits. And with around 60 million X users also in the region, that could see a number of them looking to make the switch.
Which is the real aim here. Meta has created Threads as the X alternative, aiming to scoop up former Twitter cast-offs who are unhappy with Elon’s changes at the app. In order to do that, Threads needs to be available in all regions where X users may be looking to jump ship, so its EU expansion is another critical step in this respect.
It’ll be interesting to see what Threads user numbers rise to over the holiday period, and whether it can indeed become a genuine rival for X in total active engagement.
We’ll keep you updated on any official announcement on the Threads EU launch.
SOCIAL
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SOCIAL
X Pitches Advertisers on Audience Reach Opportunities in ‘Q5’

X is making a push to win over advertisers in the holiday season, by promoting its opportunities in “Q5”, which covers the post-Christmas to mid-January period.
As explained by X:
“During [Q5], we see reduced CPMs and cost-per-conversion as consumers shop for post-holiday deals and products to support their New Year’s ambitions. Last year, X saw a 5% reduction in the average CPM and a 27% reduction in the average cost-per-conversion1.”
Which could present new opportunity to reach a larger audience with your promotions, if indeed they are engaging on X over the holiday period.
“Q5 is filled with a wide variety of tent-pole moments, ranging from the holidays to sports, entertainment and more. With a surge of engagement around these conversations, your brand can remain relevant to your audiences while driving maximum ROI.”
X says that, based on engagement data from last year, there are a lot of potential topics of interest for brands.
X also notes that sports video views are surging in the app, up almost 25% YoY over the past 6 months, while vertical video is also gaining momentum.
“Vertical video is the fastest growing surface on X. Over 100M people around the world are consuming vertical video daily at an average of over 13 minutes per day. On many days, vertical video accounts for around 20% of all time spent on the platform.”
Though I would advise some caution in trusting these data points.
In recent months, various questions have been raised as to what X counts as a video “view” versus an impression, which is when a post is shown in-feed.
Technically, X counts video views like this:
“The main X video view metric is triggered when a user watches a video for at least 2 seconds and sees at least 50% of the video player in-view. This applies to View metrics for both uploaded videos and live broadcasts.”
But that’s different to the actual view count that’s displayed on posts:
“Anyone who is logged into X who views a post counts as a view, regardless of where they see the post (e.g. Home, Search, Profiles, etc.) or whether or not they follow the author. If you’re the author, looking at your own post also counts as a view.”
Even worse, X counts multiple views from the same person in that count:
“Multiple views may be counted if you view a post more than once, but not all views are unique. For example, you could look at a post on web and then on your phone, and that would count as two views.”
So you can see how the public view count on video posts can massively overstate how many people actually watched a clip, which could be why X is reporting such big spikes in engagement. It just depends on which “view” metric it’s referring to here, actual views or exposure in stream.
Which makes all of these numbers a little difficult to determine, while X owner Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino have also continued to amplify misleading engagement stats via their own X profiles, muddying the waters as to what kind of actual reach and engagement you can expect.
And that’s before you consider the concerns that other advertisers have had with their promotions potentially being displayed alongside harmful or offensive content in the app.
But depending on how you feel about these aspects, and where your target audience is active, it could be worth considering X for your post-holiday promotions, as you look to maximize sales activity over the holiday period.
It’s also worth considering that with fewer big-name brands taking prime spots in the app, there may also be additional opportunity to reach people via X promotions.
There may be value, depending on your strategic thinking, though I would be keeping an eye on actual engagement
You can read more of X’s Q5 insights here.
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