Ever wondered why you're seeing a certain post or ad on your Facebook News Feed?
Launching in Singapore on May 17, 2019, this feature intends to help people better understand why they see certain content on their News Feed and customise who they want to see content from:
Specifically, people will be able to understand:
- Why they're seeing a certain post on their News Feed
- How their user habits influence the order of the posts they see
- Shortcuts to controls which help them personalise their News Feed
Here's a breakdown of the feature:
Here's an example of how this feature will look like on your mobile device:
Ramya Sethuraman, Product Manager for Facebook News Feed explained: "Some common misconceptions people have of us is that we sell user data, decide what you see on our platform, and limit the number of friends who show up on your News Feed."
The Facebook News Feed operates on a four point system:
- An Inventory, which stores all potential posts from friends, groups and pages you have chosen to connect with
- Signals, which informs the order of these posts based on things like who posted something or when it was posted
- Predictions, which is what Facebook uses to predict how likely someone is to convert on an ad
- Score, which is how much an advertiser bids on a certain ad
Cool.
Following Facebook's decision to prioritise interactions between family and friends, users will also be able to choose who they see content from.
This comes in the form of controls like "See First", "Unfollow", "Hide" and "Snooze":
Here's how the controls look like on your mobile device:
Nice.
Next time you have a crush on someone or an acquaintance you're not too fond of, you know what to do.
Top image courtesy of Con Karampelas and Facebook
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