Story by
Martin SFP Bryant
FounderMartin Bryant is founder of Big Revolution, where he helps tech companies refine their proposition and positioning, and develops high-qualit Martin Bryant is founder of Big Revolution, where he helps tech companies refine their proposition and positioning, and develops high-quality, compelling content for them. He previously served in several roles at TNW, including Editor-in-Chief. He left the company in April 2016 for pastures new.
In recent years, Facebook has been increasingly strict about controlling what users see in their News Feeds and the order in which they see it – much to the annoyance of some. Now in a new experiment it’s giving up a little of that power.
AdWeek’s Social Times reports on a new test:
“For some mobile users, a box with an animated puppy shows up, prompting the user to ‘See more of what you love.’
“From there, it leads to a screen (below) with bubbles of all of the friends and pages with whom that person has connected. People can select which pages and friends they’d like prioritized above the algorithm.”
While some users will celebrate this move, it’s a gamble for Facebook. The whole point of its News Feed algorithm is that it theoretically knows better than you what will keep you coming back. If you get to choose what shows up and then some of those friends and Pages end up posting things you’re not that interested in after all… well, maybe you’ll drift away from Facebook.
➤ Facebook Tests Feature Letting Users Pick Pages, Friends They’d Want To See Atop News Feed [Social Times]
Screenshot credit: Social Times
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