What is Facebook’s Algorithm?

FACEBOOK

 

Facebook is a social networking site where users can upload photographs, post comments, and share links to news and other content on the web. It also allows people to chat live and watch short-form video.

It’s one of the most popular sites on the internet, and a lot of companies use it to promote their products or services. But the site has some serious issues, too.

First off, it’s a monopoly of sorts — it has become the biggest and most dominant company on the internet, and its reach is incredibly wide. It’s able to target almost any demographic, and it makes money from the ads people see on it.

That’s a problem, because it means that it’s more likely to show you content from companies that can afford to pay for this kind of targeting, which can make your experience less than desirable. That’s why it’s important to understand the algorithms behind what Facebook shows you and how to use that information.

The algorithm is what decides which posts you’ll see, and it’s based on the amount of time you spend on a page, how much engagement you’re having with posts, and other factors. The algorithm is constantly learning and improving.

It uses these data to help determine the type of content you’ll see and how often it will appear. It’s all done through a series of computations that the servers do every second.

When you scroll through your news feed, it’ll show you posts from people and pages you follow or like. You can choose which of those you’d like to see more of, or hide certain posts and ads from appearing in your Feed.

What this does is make it easier for you to get the information you need quickly, and for Facebook to understand what types of content are worth your attention. For example, if you’re a big fan of an athlete or band, the algorithm is more likely to prioritize posts from those people and pages in your Feed.

There are also a number of options to customize how your feed looks, including limiting the amount of posts you’ll see from someone, deciding which public pages you want to see and unfollowing them. This is a good way to reduce the amount of information you’re exposed to, and it’s especially useful if you don’t like the content being posted by people or businesses you’ve never met.

You can change these settings from within the app. Just tap on the downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of any post and select News Feed Preferences.

Privacy is an ongoing concern, but it’s something that Facebook has addressed in several ways. In 2006, it introduced News Feed, which showed all the changes that friends had made to their pages. When that started to raise concerns, it was swiftly changed to allow for more control over what would be seen in the Feed.

Ultimately, the algorithms behind what you’re shown in your Feed are meant to be fair and to show you what’s most relevant. It’s not a foolproof system, but it works pretty well most of the time.

 

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