Why don’t I see posts from the people I follow anymore?
Social media used to be about who you followed. Now it’s all about what you’ve been viewing lately. I follow over 500 people on Instagram, yet I mainly see ads and content based on what I’ve been searching for recently. The algorithms are working overtime to show me more of what I’ve been viewing, like Jazz Kissa bars in Tokyo, which are café-bars where you can hear records played on fine hi-fi sound systems, or videos of the vibrant restaurant scene in Montreal, English Premier League soccer highlights, and latte art. Those four topics make up almost 90% of my Instagram feed right now.
Your Facebook and Instagram feed doesn’t show as many posts from friends, family, or brands that you follow anymore. It shows whatever matches your current interests. Some, like Gary Vaynerchuk, have called it “interest media.” For businesses, that means your follower count matters less than it used to. If you post about topics your audience cares about, you can reach people who’ve never even heard of you. If you’re a brand, try posting videos and carousels about trends in your industry, profiling an employee, or sharing something related to your business that might show up in search. Don’t create content just for your followers, create content that is interesting and more engaging.
That same content you’re sharing is also feeding AI search. A recent study found social media links in about two out of three Google AI Overviews. What you post on YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and other platforms shows up in Google and Gemini and shapes how many AI tools answer questions about your business or the industry. If your social media posts are quiet, or you don’t post often, your page becomes easier to skip and shows up less in search results. Put simply, your social media content is now part of your AI search strategy.
These links don’t come for free
It’s getting harder to send people from Facebook to your website. Meta is testing a limit on some Facebook Pages, providing just two free posts with links per month. That test has been growing since late summer, so don’t be surprised if it shows up on your Facebook Page soon. Looking for more? Meta created the new ‘Meta One’ subscription. Plans run from $14.99 to $499 a month, and each has different feature levels.
My advice is to skip the subscription, at least for now. Treat your two links like a budget. Save them for what matters most, like an upcoming special event, a new website launch, a fundraiser, or a big company-wide announcement. The limit only applies to organic posts, not paid ads. A small boost can carry a link when you need one –– it just costs you at least $10 each time…
If it helps you decide which direction to go in, clicks on links in Facebook posts have been steadily declining, even before any of these new services were offered. In fact, the share of feed views containing external links on Facebook fell from 9.8% in 2022 down to 1.3% by Q1 2026.
With these changes, owning your audience matters more than ever. When platforms make links harder to share, the people you want to reach directly matter more. An email list is the one channel no algorithm controls. Tools like Constant Contact, MailChimp, and even Substack can make a difference when used well.
Substack is a good fit for business leaders who want to write straight to their audience or share how-to guides that are too long for a social post. Substack treats it like a social post, a blog, a newsletter, and a subscription –– all in one place. Posts are longer, which also gives Google and AI tools more of your expertise to find and share. Substack is free, but you can offer paid subscriptions to your followers.
One more thing for your 2027 planning…
If you’re a brand trying to reach families, pay attention to Gen Alpha. Parents say kids ages 8 to 14 influence 42% of household spending, and many of those kids find brands on social media. Now is a good time to think about how your video content and social media strategy looks to them and how to better reach this audience.
The social media platform rules keep changing, and they’ll change again soon. It never ends, and it seems to always be evolving, or devolving? That’s just how it works now.
Our job at Cookson is to keep up with it so you don’t have to. If you’re wondering what any of this means for your business, we’re happy to talk it through.
