{"id":136202,"date":"2019-05-13T18:53:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T16:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=136202"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:58:39","slug":"how-facebooks-news-feed-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-facebooks-news-feed-works\/","title":{"rendered":"How Facebook\u2019s news feed works"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

According to Pew Research, a majority share of adult Facebook users in the U.S. have no idea how the platform\u2019s algorithm works\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 much less how the news feed operates.<\/p>\n

Sure, the average person isn\u2019t expected to know the ins and outs of machine learning concepts. That can be excused.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s a good idea to understand why we see certain things \u2014 and how to customize our content for a better experience.<\/p>\n

Facebook news feed changes<\/h2>\n

Remember last year when an idealistic Mark Zuckerberg<\/strong> announced that his vision for Facebook was to shift the platform toward more meaningful interactions<\/a>?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve had an account for the past several years, chances are your feed was clogged up with updates from people you don\u2019t really know or care about.<\/p>\n

Since that announcement, which was all about friends and family, Facebook has started placing more value on engagement<\/strong>. This means you’re supposed to see the things you care about first.<\/p>\n

According to Facebook, the platform evaluates the posts in your feed based on three main signals.<\/p>\n

First, they\u2019ll look at who posted it.<\/strong> From there, it prioritizes posts based on how often you interact with that friend, business, or public figure\u2019s content.<\/p>\n

The second component is content type<\/strong>. Do you read more articles, \u201clike\u201d more photos, or prefer to watch a muted video? If the algorithm detects a preference for one type of content, they\u2019ll prioritize posts that best match the format you typically engage with.<\/p>\n

Interactions<\/strong> are the final ingredient that comes into play. The algorithm is designed to present content that other people enjoyed, assuming you\u2019ll like it, too. So, if a lot of your friends like a particular video, it may show higher in your feed.<\/p>\n

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\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Engagement isn\u2019t exactly indicative of quality<\/h2>\n

According to the social media platform Hootsuite, the latest version of the algorithm prioritizes active interactions (like shares and comments)<\/a>\u00a0over passive ones.<\/p>\n

A quick look at 2019\u2019s top posts so far reveals a preference for click bait<\/strong>, regardless of whether the posts are factual or not.<\/p>\n

\"top<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s goal is to eliminate \u201cengagement baiting\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to encourage \u201cauthentic\u201d exchanges on the platform. The problem is, people still share garbage content with their network<\/strong> and those posts still get shared.<\/p>\n

Can you control your Facebook feed?<\/h2>\n

When Facebook first came on the scene, you\u2019d see everything in the order it was posted. However, when more people joined, the social networking site began curating everyone\u2019s feeds. It allowed them to present content with more engagement. Basically, it netted them more ad dollars.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook does let you make some changes to what your news feed shows first. There’s a brief walkthrough right there on the site<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

All you’ll need to is click the down arrow on the top right corner of your Facebook page. From there, select “News Feed Preferences”, and you can choose which posts come up first.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

This little trick is ideal for “unfollowing” posts from problematic family members you can’t get away with unfriending. Sorry racist Aunt Sheila, you gotta go.<\/p>\n

FB is trying<\/em> to be transparent about what you see in the feed<\/h2>\n

They\u2019ve also just recently introduced a new feature called \u201cWhy am I seeing this post?\u201d It\u2019s designed to help people understand why they\u2019re seeing a specific update and give you more control over your feed\u2019s contents.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

The feature\u2019s commercial sibling, \u201cwhy am I seeing this ad\u201d also recently got a facelift of its own. Since February 28, Facebook has allowed users to see which brands uploaded their data.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

According to TechCrunch, Facebook was going to require advertisers<\/a> to pledge that they had someone\u2019s phone number or email address for ad targeting.<\/p>\n

While that tool came out last June, Facebook did not implement any verification process. Instead, they opted to take businesses at their word.<\/p>\n

Wrapping up<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that either of these new changes will stop the platform\u2019s data misuse. That\u2019s a staple of the business model, after all.<\/p>\n

However, these changes do help those who can manage to inform themselves about the platform\u2019s latest exploits gain a bit more control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s why you see what you see in your feed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9161,"featured_media":138527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2441],"tags":[1059,1562],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-136202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-facebook","tag-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326079,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202\/revisions\/326079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136202"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=136202"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=136202"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=136202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}