I continue to receive emails and messages on Facebook from readers telling me that they haven’t been seeing our Facebook posts.

Facebook recently altered some algorithm within its system that’s really affected what posts show up in your newsfeed. In the last 2 weeks I’ve noticed a significant drop in Facebook traffic, which supports that, and I’ve been working towards solutions to combat.

Facebook is a business, which some of us tend to forget (a public company too), and profit is extremely important, as is the case for most businesses. So every move they make is towards that end. They want page owners to use the pay-to-promote option, which means page owners will have to spend money on each post shared, in order to increase the likelihood that you’ll see each post in your Facebook newsfeed.

I determined that the vast majority of our Facebook followers have not been seeing our posts – something like 80%, which is obviously A LOT! 

Unless of course a post is shared, commented on, and *liked* by those who do see it, causing it to go viral, and becomes popular, which helps keep it in play. So you can help in that regard, by simply *liking*, sharing and/or commenting on each post we share. The more interaction there is with each item, the more likely it is that you’ll continue to see our posts. You are essentially telling Facebook which posters are important to you and which are not when you do that.

However, while I continue to investigate other options, my suggestion would be that, if you want to ensure that you see all of our posts on Facebook, these are your best options:

1. Sign up for the S&A email newsletter, which guarantees that you’ll see everything we post. Don’t worry, you won’t be bombarded with emails or spam. You’ll get exactly 1 email a day, which will include links to and short summaries of all the entries posted over a 24-hour period. And you can then scan the newsletter and from it, click on any post link that gets your attention and that you’d like to read the contents of, in full. That’s it! To sign up for the S&A email newsletter in 1 easy step, CLICK HERE.

2. If you insist on using Facebook primarily to see our content, the absolute smartest thing to do would be to select the “Get Notifications” option under the “Like” button on the S&A Facebook page. What that does is ensures that whenever an item is shared, you’ll get a notification alerting you that, and you can then click to read whatever it is that was shared. So just go to the S&A Facebook fan page HERE and put your mouse over the “Like” button (assuming you’re already a follower on Facebook), and within the pop-up menu that appears, select the option to “Get Notifications.” 

3. Subscribe using your favorite RSS/syndication news reader service. If you already use one of those, just add S&A to your subscriptions, in 1 easy step. I currently use Feedly and recommend it. I rely on it everyday to get my entertainment industry (and other) news. But there are other services. To subscribe, CLICK HERE.

4. Follow S&A on Twitter HERE. As far as I know, Twitter hasn’t forced any pay-to-promote option on users. You can also create a list and add S&A to it. But starting by just following S&A on Twitter would be a start. However, given the way the social networking site works, there’s a chance that you won’t see every post that’s shared, especially if you’re not on Twitter regularly. Unless you make a concerted effort to visit the S&A Twitter page daily, and see all that’s been shared, or create a list with S&A in it that you visit daily.

5. Download the Indiewire mobile app. It’s FREE! And you’ll see everything we post on a daily basis. Just search “Indiewire” in the App Store or in Google Play, or if you’re on your phone or tablet right now, click here to download the app for your iPhone, or click here to get it on your Android device.

6. Skip the subscription and newsletter services, and come directly to the site, like a lot of folks already do daily; some more often than others. But the frequency is obviously entirely up to you. However, you probably wouldn’t want to let several days pass you by, without visiting the site, since the volume can add up quickly.

These are the best available choices right now. Facebook wields lots of power, given how integrated they are into the web surfing experience currently. And the fact that S&A has been able to amass close to 25,000 Facebook subscribers, and now has to find a way to wean all those people from the social networking site, is trying. And I’m sure Facebook knows that well.

But, as I’ve listed, there are other options. You’ll just have to act on them, until something better comes along. I’ll be creating an S&A Google Plus account shortly, so those who’ve migrated to that social networking service will be able to follow S&A there.

It’s frustrating for obvious reasons. I do use the pay-to-promote option from time to time – specifically for those posts that I want to ensure are seen by as many people as possible; but that should be the exception, not the rule! I can’t afford to pay to promote every single post, or even a handful of posts, to make sure that most of you see them, which seems to be what Facebook wants people who run pages like myself, to do.

Needless to say, this is one post that I’ll be paying to promote on the S&A Facebook page, so that it’s seen by as many of you as possible!

Thanks for your patience and please keep reading!