How Facebook Is Using Surveys to Improve Its News Feed and Give Users What They Want

Facebook is taking more of a "survey says" approach to what users will see in their news feeds. In a blog post published today, Facebook software engineers Cheng Zhang and Si Chen explained that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's traditional ways of determining what shows up in feeds—likes, clicks, comments, shares—don't always give a full picture of what users want. And the changes could weed out publishers that rely on clickbait for traffic. Facebook asked more than 1,000 users to rate their daily experience and provide feedback on how it can be improved. It also surveyed tens of thousands of people around the world to better understand how well feeds are being ranked. Respondents were asked to give stories a rating of up to five stars according to how much they wanted to see each one show up in their news feed. Facebook uses algorithms to determine what people see based on each user's connections and activity on the platform. Updates to the news feed algorithm will include the probability that users want to see a given story and how likely they are to engage with it. "We saw through our research that people reported having a better newsfeed experience when the stories they see at the top are stories they are both likely to rate highly if asked and likely to engage with," the engineers wrote. So, how will this affect Pages, the section brands use to manage their Facebook page? That depends on the scope of the audience, how frequently a brand posts and what it... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2016-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #-based company #full picture #provide feedback

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Facebook Is Guiding Publishers Through the Rough Waters of Recent News Feed Changes

In the wake of a flood of recent changes to Facebook's News Feed algorithm aimed at drowning out fake news and clickbait, the social network threw a lifeline to potentially overwhelmed publishers. Vice president of News Feed Adam Mosseri shared some "basic guideposts" for publishers looking to... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2017-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Is Enlisting American Users in the Fight Against Fake News

Facebook's going to need all the help it can get to combat fake news.  With that in mind, the company is enlisting users to fight the good fight, revealing a five-part plan to cleanse its platform of faux publishers that make money off click-bait headlines that contain blatant untruths. The... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook-thirsty publishers turn to celebrities to worm into the news feed

Years ago, brands like Viral Nova, Distractify and Diply rode the power of Facebook influencer traffic to relevance with advertisers. Today, hundreds of publishers have dipped their toes in the water, and companies like The Social Edge drive well over 100 million pageviews every month for them.... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook news feed changes to rank posts from friends and family above 'liked' pages

Facebook will make changes to its news feed rankings, highlighting posts from friends and family over those from publishers and brand pages that users have "liked". Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The winners and losers of Facebook’s news feed change

With its latest algorithm tweak, Facebook said it will favor posts from friends and families over publishers. That's generally bad for publishers, which have been increasingly building their distribution strategies around the social behemoth. Within them, the ones with the most shareable content... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook changes the News Feed to favor friends and family over publishers

Facebook has published for the first time a list of “News Feed Values,” Facebook’s secret sauce of what makes the algorithm tick. The social network is adjusting the recipe with a heavy helping of content from friends and family, likely an attempt to get people to share more, given that there... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Is Changing Its News Feed Algorithm to Focus Less on Publishers' Content

Expect to see more pictures of your friends' pets and wedding announcements from extended family members in your Facebook news feed in the coming weeks. And expect to see less news. In yet another blow to publishers that have spent years building audiences to build traffic and revenue, the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook tests News Feed-only posts that avoid your Timeline

Being able to hide a Facebook update after it posts isn't entirely new, but the social network is testing a way to let users keep things from ever hitting their Timeline. A "Hide From Your Timeline" checkbox will allow you to only publish something i... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2016-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook's latest News Feed overhaul puts stories you want to see at the top

Facebook knows everything about you, from who your friends and family are to what you like and where you’ve been. It even knows the posts you draft but never publish. Combine all that information with the power of the like button, which signals to Facebook that a post should be shared more... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2016-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Brings 360-Degree Virtual Reality Videos to News Feeds

Stars Wars was first to post a 360-degree video. Photo: Facebook Virtual reality is coming to Facebook news feeds. Today the company rolled out 360-degree videos brands and publishers can post to their pages. Desktop viewers just have to drag their mouse over a clip to change the angle, and... Continue reading at AdWeek

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Facebook algorithms no match for users' own decisions on feeds, study finds

Facebook study considered the political leanings of news posts by US users before determining which posts were reached via the site’s social algorithmsThe algorithms used by Facebook to filter news posts have an effect on the information seen by users – but not nearly as much as the choices made... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook cracks down on hoaxes and spam in its latest news feed tweak

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[ The Guardian | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seeing More Politics in Your News Feed? Facebook Boosts Partisan Sites

Facebook has helped catapult sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy into social stardom, boosting the visibility of media content on the News Feeds of millions of users and generating a deluge of traffic. But in this rising tide, some publishers have seen ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

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Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions

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[ The Guardian | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook Is Testing A News Feed That Looks More Like A Newspaper

The change is subtle, but its message is clear: Facebook has entered the news business.It's no secret that Facebook is changing what appears in your feed dramatically. Whereas memes used to rule supreme--making basically anything shared by George Takei go viral--Facebook has reweighted its... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like This if You Like Pandas! Facebook Says Publishers Shouldn't Fret About News Feed Changes.

The guy who runs Facebook's most valuable real estate explains why the company just changed its rules. Continue reading at AllThingsD

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Facebook, With a Focus on Mobile, Works on Project for News Via Users

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Facebook Gives Publishers New Tools, Hopes They’ll Use Them to Give Facebook More Stuff

Facebook has been courting content companies for years because it wants content companies to bring more of their content to Facebook. Here’s a new example: A set of tools that will make it easier for publishers to share their stuff ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook in 2015: Pivot to video! Facebook today: Local news is dead!

Facebook paints a bleak picture for the media industry, while ignoring its own role in publishing’s demise. Benevolent Doctor Facebook today gave the country a very grave diagnosis via a blog post. The company has found that–wait for it–local news is dying. In fact, Facebook says that about... Continue reading at Fast Company

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Forget fake news: How in-feed native ads can spread positive news

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