Facebook Announces Major Changes with News Feed

Facebook announced major changes to its News Feed, showing more personal posts from family and friends, and less videos and posts from businesses and news media.

Facebook Inc, which owns 4 of the world’s most popular and used apps including Instagram, has prioritized complex computer algorithms for years. These algorithms were designed to think people will engage through comments, “likes,” or other ways of showing interest.

Founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said that that would no longer be the goal.

“I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions,” Zuckerberg said.

However, he acknowledged it may hurt the company’s bottom line. “As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media,” Zuckerberg said. “By making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable.”

The shift in priorities would almost be far-reaching for publishers, non-profits, small businesses, and many other groups. As they rely on the social network to engage with people, de-emphasizing their posts would most likely hurt them.

Businesses and media posts were “crowing out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other,” he said. Academic studies and internal research revealed that feeling “more connected and less lonely … correlates with long term measures of happiness and health.”

“On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good,” Zuckerberg added.

Pressure has been building on Facebook and its CEO with the toxic content flowing though Facebook, such as violent live videos, fake news articles, and divisive messages from Russian operatives to influence the 2016 US presidential campaign. The company has been asked many times with questions about how its algorithms may have prioritized misleading news and misinformation in News Feeds.

“It’s gotten to the point where there is so much content in news feed — media content, things that aren’t necessarily from your friends or from people you care about — that you end up being less engaged in it,” said Debra Williamson, analyst at a research firm eMarketer. “I see that in myself. I see my news feed and say, ‘Where’s all my friends’ stuff?’”

Facebook shares closed the regular session down 0.04% at $187.77. Its shares were higher 49% over the past year, compared to the S&P 500's 22% rise.

HQBroker is here to give you a daily news roundup about forex, stocks, commodities, and indices. Open an account now and make yourself updated with essential reviews about the market.