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Engagement Farming: Why Farming on Social Media Is Bad
I have managed social media for over a decade, and about 25% of social media posts start or end with a question. It’s a way for people to think about your point or content.
Until social media networks decide, you may no longer want to ask questions that appear spammy, which may be considered engagement farming.
What Is Engagement Farming?
Engagement farming is when one wants to get more engagement with others on social media networks to advance one's account or links.
It is also done to get more likes, followers, and shares on social networks. Many times, it is a spammy way to generate something more.
Conversations Lost
Without questions, conversations may be lost on social networks.
People can still comment on a post, but without being asked to, they may gloss over it and move on.
I’ve found the questions were taken down more on Facebook than on other networks like X.
Facebook Question Post Deleted
It happened to my own Facebook page today. I had a blog post with a question title. I posted it along with the link, as I usually do about 50% of the time there.
I used to do more of them until Facebook didn’t like links. Their algorithm kept those posts from being seen as they wanted everyone to stay on their network, not yours.
To my surprise, a few hours later today, I received a notification that Facebook had taken down the post.
Where Is The Freedom of Expression?
If they want to give us freedom of expression, why can’t we ask questions on our feeds anymore? Isn’t the purpose of social media to engage with others on the network?
It could spur a conversation right there on the network, spending time there.
Conversations are the threads on social media where time is spent besides watching videos.
