Facebook is no doubt the social media site with the largest following. Friends and family get to share memories stories and opinions through this social network that boasts of hundreds of millions of users. Earlier, the site changed the algorithm of ranking posts in News Feeds to prioritize posts from family and friends. Now Facebook is adding yet another tweak to the algorithm so that it brings stories that are informative to the users.
Facebook was sparse on information on how it will change the algorithm. However, they did drop a hint in a recently published blog post. “With the update, we are working on a new method of ranking with an algorithm that predicts posts that are informative to a particular user. Such stories will appear higher in your News Feeds.”
Apparently, the change in ranking style is based on a global survey that Facebook conducted under Project Feed Quality Program. The survey requires users to rate their experience on the site. The users rank stories that appear on their feeds, and the survey requires users to sate reasons they rank such stories highly. Facebook indicated that people prefer stories that are connected to their interests and stories that are informative. Stories that engage users in discussions are most preferred. Also, users want stories that contain news in the world around them.
Earlier Facebook addressed the issue to do with clickbait. Facebook implemented a system that updates the News Feeds by identifying commonly used phrases in clickbait headlines and reduce the distribution of spam links and post that do not contain any useful information in them. Facebook is a good spot for spammers to distribute phishing links and other links that do not have anything to offer but drive ad sales. However, Facebook issued a disclaimer that suggested users might not see a decrease in referral posts.
The upcoming redesigned News Feeds layout should be good news for advertisers and digital publishers who were not so impressed when Facebook prioritized feeds posts from family and friends. Digital publishers offer informative content to users and in turn, they increase their reader base and consequently increase revenue.
Facebook has overcome a lot to achieve a good name in the world of technology. It started off as a social media platform but has grown to provide many more services. Now the company is working on the project entirely not related to social media such as delivery of Internet to remote places.
Once the company has finished working on the new ranking feed algorithm, they will offer an update. Till then, posts from family and friends continue to rank highest in the News Feeds.
