Few days ago Facebook announced plans to clean up the News Feed by reducing stories that users are reporting as spammy or simply that they don’t want to see. This update targets three broad categories: Repeated content , Like-baiting posts, and spammy links.
Like-baiting refers to when a post explicitly
asks News Feed readers to like, comment, or
share the post. In other words, the goal is to
go viral, or at least get additional distribution
beyond what the post would normally receive.
Here’s an example:
Facebook admits this is a technique that
works, as users “often respond to posts asking them to take an action,” which in turn means these posts get shown to more people and are pushed higher up in the News Feed. Facebook is adjusting its News Feed algorithm to better detect these stories and help ensure that they
are not shown more prominently than more relevant stories from friends and other Pages.
The company says it has surveyed its users and found that they rate the quality of these stories 15 percent less relevant, on average, than other stories with a comparable number
of likes, comments, and shares. This in turn
hurts the Facebook experience. Again, the company admits as much: “Over time, these stories lead to a less enjoyable experience of Facebook since they drown out content from
friends and Pages that people really care about.”
Next up, Facebook says both users and Pages frequently reshare the same great content over and over. While this is often done because the
content in question is of high quality, the service’s users have told the company they find photos and videos that are reuploaded to the
site less relevant.
Facebook has adjusted its News Feed algorithm to de-emphasize this type of content.
According to the company’s early testing, this change causes people to hide 10percent fewer stories from Pages.
Lastly, spammy links are defined by Facebook as stories that use “inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking
through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads.” In other words, the poster is lying.
Facebook is also reducing these stories by measuring how frequently users who visit a link choose to like the original post or share that post with their friends. Again, the
company’s early testing has found a 5 percent
increase in users clicking on links that take them off of Facebook, as they’re seeing less spam.
Facebook says many of the stories that fall into these three categories are published by Pages that deliberately try to game the News Feed.
Most publishers are not posting spam, and so they shouldn’t expect to be negatively impacted by these changes.
Like-baiting refers to when a post explicitly
asks News Feed readers to like, comment, or
share the post. In other words, the goal is to
go viral, or at least get additional distribution
beyond what the post would normally receive.
Here’s an example:
Facebook admits this is a technique that
works, as users “often respond to posts asking them to take an action,” which in turn means these posts get shown to more people and are pushed higher up in the News Feed. Facebook is adjusting its News Feed algorithm to better detect these stories and help ensure that they
are not shown more prominently than more relevant stories from friends and other Pages.
The company says it has surveyed its users and found that they rate the quality of these stories 15 percent less relevant, on average, than other stories with a comparable number
of likes, comments, and shares. This in turn
hurts the Facebook experience. Again, the company admits as much: “Over time, these stories lead to a less enjoyable experience of Facebook since they drown out content from
friends and Pages that people really care about.”
Next up, Facebook says both users and Pages frequently reshare the same great content over and over. While this is often done because the
content in question is of high quality, the service’s users have told the company they find photos and videos that are reuploaded to the
site less relevant.
Facebook has adjusted its News Feed algorithm to de-emphasize this type of content.
According to the company’s early testing, this change causes people to hide 10percent fewer stories from Pages.
Lastly, spammy links are defined by Facebook as stories that use “inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking
through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads.” In other words, the poster is lying.
Facebook is also reducing these stories by measuring how frequently users who visit a link choose to like the original post or share that post with their friends. Again, the
company’s early testing has found a 5 percent
increase in users clicking on links that take them off of Facebook, as they’re seeing less spam.
Facebook says many of the stories that fall into these three categories are published by Pages that deliberately try to game the News Feed.
Most publishers are not posting spam, and so they shouldn’t expect to be negatively impacted by these changes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment