Facebook Updates its News Feed Algorithm to Limit Misleading Posts

In order to lessen misleading content, Facebook announced a new News Feed algorithm update. With this update, the reach of content shared by profiles that regularly post links in quick succession will be limited.

Facebook’s research showed that there are users who routinely share a vast amount of public posts per day, effectively spamming people’s feeds. Among the links they share include clickbait, sensationalism, and misinformation. What does it mean to share a “vast amount” of post? Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s VP of News Feed, stated that these are people who share more than 50 posts per day.

According to Facebook,

“We want to reduce the influence of these spammers and deprioritize links they share more frequently than regular sharers.”

Rather than banning these users, Facebook will limit and reduce its users’ capacity to flood the network with unverified or questionable content. Furthermore, Facebook will give those posts a disproportionate boost through sharing activity.

The update will only apply to links, and not to domains, pages, videos, check-ins, or status updates. The effect on the News Feed distribution for most publishers will not be noticeable. However, Facebook explained that publishers may see lesser distribution of specific links from people who routinely share vast amounts of public posts per day.

Sources: Hutcherson, A. (2017, July 1). Facebook Announces New News Feed Update to Limit the Reach of Link Spammers. Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social networks/facebook-announces-new-news-feed-update-limit-reach-link-spammers. ; Carey-Simos, G. (2017, July 7). Facebook Makes Another News Feed Change To Show More Informative Links. We are Social Media. Retrieved from http://wersm.