Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company is changing the News Feed to prioritize posts from friends, family members and groups over posts from publishers and brands.
Yesterday, Zuckerberg said Facebook is kicking off the effort with a move he says is intended to boost the well-being of users, possibly at the expense of the well-being of publishers and other
businesses.
He further pointed that the company will elevate posts that ignite conversations and
meaningful interactions between friends while demoting the
many videos, news stories and business posts that users
consume passively - without commenting and sharing.
CNN reports that Zuckerberg said the change was
informed by research that shows the 'well-being' of users is better served by connecting with friends and family than by
'passively reading articles or watching videos.'
“As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts
from businesses, brands, and media,” he said.
He explained that this move, in
particular, has the potential to rattle countless publishers and brands who rely on the social network to distribute and
promote content.
Zuckerberg said earlier this month that his personal goal for 2018 would be to focus on 'fixing' many of these existential issues, including 'making sure that time spent on Facebook
is time well spent'.
Zuckerberg repeated that sentiment in his post Thursday.
“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.”
If the last year has shown anything, however, it's that
seemingly banal product decisions can yield tremendous
unforeseen consequences.
By prioritizing content that sparks conversations, Facebook
could risk promoting more polarizing and opinionated posts
that generate lots of comments, only adding to the filter
bubble,” he said.
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