Facebook is updating its News Feed preferences to give users greater control over what they see. Or at least the illusion of greater control.
The social network giant just announced a slew of tools that will allow people to, as the company says, "actively shape and improve the experience." Among other things, the tweaks let you select which friends and pages you see at the top of your News Feed, and help you more easily discover pages you might like. The company says this is, of course, all in the service of making Facebook an even more awesome experience.
"The goal of News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you," Facebook said in announcing the new features, which are available on iOS right now and coming to Android and desktop within a few weeks. "To do this, we use ranking to order stories based on how interesting we believe they are to you: specifically, whom you tend to interact with, and what kinds of content you tend to like and comment on."
Now, News Feed, at its most basic level, is defined by secrecy. Facebook doesn't reveal exact details of the algorithms that determine what you see (and what you don't) based on the company's ever-evolving, ever-more-granular analysis of your preferences. And not just the preferences you explicitly set. Your likes, comments, clicks, even how long you linger over a specific post are fed into Facebook's hyper-intelligent artificial brain. Facebook analyzes those patterns, preferences, and behaviors to show you more of what it thinks you'll like---including particular advertisements.
In giving users more personalization tools for their News Feeds, Facebook is creating the impression that people will have more control over what they see. And they very well might. But those stated preferences provide Facebook with still more data with which to figure out who you are. The more precisely the company can do that, the more completely it can monetize you.
Take the "find new pages" feature. It makes it super easy for you to discover and connect to the artists, news outlets, and businesses you like. Of course, the options you're given are based on the pages you've previously liked to increase your changes of liking more pages---and give Facebook that much more insight into your predilections, taste, and interests.
On a more personal note, the reworked News Feed gives you more control over what appears at the top of the stream. Your chosen friends and pages can now get top billing, so all the incisive commentary from your literary friends isn't subsumed by the incoherent ranting of that dude you knew in high school but can't quite bring yourself to unfriend. Set it up right, and you'll never be remiss in liking a photo of your best friend's kid. Go to News Feed Preferences, tap on a friend's profile picture to see their posts first. Any new stories they've shared since you last logged on will float to the top, with a star blue in the top right of their post designating their special status. The star, says News Feed Product Designer Cemre Gungor ensures that "very time you open Facebook, you’re reminded of the control you took to prioritize your friends." The rest of your News Feed will flow chronologically below.
The changes are Facebook's latest tweaks to News Feed. In November, the company gave users the ability to edit news from a person or page. If you weren't impressed with a particular post, you could tap the arrow in the top right of the story to hide it. You could then opt to see fewer posts from that source. Whereas that move was a way to remove unwanted stuff from your fed, the latest feature allows you to prioritize updates, allowing you to organize the info with your own personal filter. Now, you don't have to unfriend that creepy cousin; just make sure to flag enough favorites to push him down into the depths of your feed.
If that isn't precaution enough, Facebook now makes it easy to unfollow him, so his updates won't appear in your feeds. You can do that with anyone else, too, by accessing a list of the top people, pages, and groups you've seen over the last week and hacking away. Have a change of heart? It's now a cinch to review those you've recently unfollowed and reinstate them---without your friends being nary the wiser. Of course, Facebook will know.
UPDATE 1:22 PM EST 07/09/15: This story was updated with information from Facebook designer Cemre Gungor.
