What Does Bump Mean on Facebook? And How to Use It - A Detailed Guide

If you‘re active in Facebook groups, you‘ve likely seen comments like "bump" or "bumping this" under posts. But what exactly does it mean to "bump" on Facebook, and when should you use it? In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll explain everything you need to know about bumping posts in Facebook groups and the Facebook Marketplace.

Bumping on Facebook is used to move a post back to the top of the "New activity" feed in a group. It pushes the post up higher so more people see it again, reviving engagement and attention.

As a long-time Facebook group moderator and avid social media user, I‘ll share my insider knowledge on bumping – how it works,tips for using it effectively, and more. Let‘s dive in!

What Does "Bump" Mean on Facebook?

The term "bump" on Facebook refers to the act of commenting "bump" on a post to move it to the top of the "New activity" feed in a group.

For example, if you shared a post in a group asking for movie recommendations, that post will gradually get pushed down as more new posts come in. By commenting "bump" on your original post, it will shoot back up to the top of the "New activity" feed.

"Bump is used in the comment section of a post to move it to the top of the “New activity” feed in Facebook groups."

I‘ve been an admin and moderator for various niche interest groups on Facebook for over 5 years. Bumping is commonly used in nearly every active group I‘m in to re-share old posts. It originated from old internet forums and message boards, where bumping a thread would move it to the top of its category or section.

So in a nutshell, the term bump simply refers to the action of commenting to give a post renewed attention and visibility. Let‘s look closer at why this works.

How Facebook‘s News Feed Algorithm Works

To understand why bumping is effective, you need to know how Facebook‘s news feed algorithm decides what you see.

The order of posts in your news feed isn‘t chronological. Facebook uses complex machine learning algorithms to predict what content you‘re most likely to be interested in based on many factors like your activity, interests, connections to others, etc.

This means newer posts aren‘t necessarily always at the top of your feed. Facebook‘s algorithm is designed to keep you engaged, so you may often see older posts mixed in.

In very active groups with high posting volume, this presents a challenge for admins and members. Great discussions and posts can get buried under new content very quickly, sometimes in less than a day.

That‘s where bumping comes in – it‘s a way to manually give an old post renewed visibility when algorithmically it would be buried in the feed.

Bumping Only Works in Facebook Groups, Not Your Main News Feed

This is a key detail about bumping – it only works to sort and filter posts within Facebook groups, not your main news feed.

Your main news feed is completely personalized and sorted algorithmically by Facebook. There are no options to manually sort it or filter it differently.

But in Facebook groups, posts can be sorted in 3 different ways:

Top posts – ranks by engagement and popularity
Recent posts – newest posts are at the top
New activity – ranks by recency of comments

Bumping pushes a post to the top of the "New activity" feed. So members who have that view enabled will see the bumped post first when they open the group.

Normal commenting achieves the same effect. The key is that groups allow manual post filtering but main feeds do not.

Step-by-Step Instructions: How to Use Bump on Facebook

Now that you understand the purpose of bumping, here is exactly how to do it:

Go to the Facebook group where you have a post you want to bump.
Locate your post and open the comments.
Type "bump" as a new comment and hit enter to post it.
Your post will now be bumped to the top of the "New activity" feed!

And that‘s seriously all there is to it! It‘s one of the simplest and easiest ways to breathe new life into an old post.

Let‘s say you shared a post asking for book recommendations for your book club 2 weeks ago. But you want more suggestions. Instead of making a brand new (probably annoying) post asking again, just go back to your original and comment "bump".

The simple bump comment will shoot that post back up into the New activity feed as if it were brand new. People who have that feed sorted will see your post first when they open the group.

Does Bumping Actually Work to Resurface Posts?

I‘m sure you‘re wondering if bumping really works as described. I‘m happy to say that yes – it absolutely does!

I moderate several large groups with active discussions. Bumping posts is essential to keeping conversations going longer than a day or two. I‘ve used the technique hundreds of times both as a mod and regular member.

Whenever I want renewed attention on an old post, I bump it, and without fail it always gets pushed right back into the top "New activity" spot. I see other members do it constantly as well.

So while it seems simple, bumping is an extremely effective tactic to cut through Facebook‘s algorithms and give your posts manual visibility boosts. It‘s like the fast lane to the top!

Facebook‘s 2013 "Story Bumping" Algorithm Change

The use of "bump" to re-share Facebook content is connected to an important algorithm update in 2013 referred to as "story bumping."

"Story bumping is the change in Facebook’s algorithm that allows older posts to be moved to the top of your News Feed automatically based on a variety of factors."

Essentially, Facebook determined that most users were only seeing about 57% of the stories/posts in their news feeds before they stopped scrolling. This meant many posts were getting decent engagement, but not reaching all of a Page‘s followers.

So in August 2013, they updated the news feed algorithm to start "bumping" older stories back to the top of feeds, even if the original posters hadn‘t made any changes to them. This increased engagement by 5-8% on average for Pages.

Facebook described it as an update designed to show people the stories they‘re most likely to be interested in and engaged with, regardless of how old they are.

This change mirrors the concept of manually bumping – letting older posts get renewed visibility to boost engagement. The update validated bumping as an effective social media tactic!

Renewing Marketplace Listings vs Bumping Posts

Bumping works a little differently on the Facebook Marketplace compared to in groups.

In groups, you just comment "bump" on a post to bump it up. But to bump or revive a listing in the Marketplace, you need to renew it which relists it at the top as if it‘s new.

Here are the steps to renew/bump a listing in the Marketplace:

Go to Your Items and find the listing you want to renew.
Tap the listing, then tap Manage.
Tap "Renew in Marketplace" to relist it.

You can renew a listing up to 5 times to keep bumping it back to the top of the results. Each renewal bumps it up as if it‘s a brand new listing.

So while the term is the same, bumping is done by renewing rather than commenting in the Marketplace. But the result is the same – renewed visibility and attention!

When Should You Use Bump on Facebook?

Now that you know how to bump on Facebook, when should you actually use it? Here are some smart times to use it:

On an old post when you want new responses/engagement
To resurrect an important announcement so newcomers see it
To re-share an item you have for sale or trade
To ask a question again if you didn‘t get many responses
To share an event coming up to drive last minute interest

Essentially any time you have a post that you feel deserves renewed visibility long after it was initially shared, bumping is the way to go.

I like to use it about once a week on any open-ended questions I post like weekly polls, discussions about trending topics, etc. The bumps keep the conversations active longer.

It saves you from having to repost the whole thing and allows you to simply nudge the existing post back into activity feeds.

Pro Tip: Don‘t Overdo the Bumping

One word of caution on bumping – don‘t go crazy with it! I‘ve seen some members bump the same post 3+ times in a day. That borders on spam behavior.

Use your discretion, but in most cases I recommend:

Limit bumps to 1x/day max
Don‘t bump more than 2-3x total on a single post
Space out bumps by a few days rather than hours

Keep it reasonable so you don‘t end up annoying group members. Bumping is great, but overdoing it defeats the purpose.

Final Thoughts on Bumping Posts in Facebook Groups

Bumping posts in Facebook groups is an extremely handy tactic to get more eyeballs on your old content. Just a simple "bump" comment can work wonders!

Here are some key takeaways on bumping:

It shoots posts to the top of the "New activity" feed in groups
Helps neglected posts beat Facebook‘s algorithms
Originated in old school forums and message boards
Doesn‘t work in main feeds, only groups
Easy to do – just comment "bump" on a post
Sparingly bump 1x per day max

Next time you want give a post new life, don‘t hesitate to bump it up! Let me know if you have any other bumping tips or tricks.