Facebook is still trying to figure out how to fix the news feed and plans to start asking users what kind of content they want to see. Over the next few months, the business will start on the content of their news feeds, including whether too much political content contributes to “negative experiences”.
“More and more, we are hearing comments from people that they see too much content on politics and too many other types of posts and comments that are detrimental to their News Feed experience,” Facebook wrote in a post. blog. “We will work to better understand what types of content are linked to these negative experiences.”
The company will also poll users to see if they find the content “inspiring” and ask users about their interest in certain topics, such as cooking, sports and politics. The goal, according to Facebook, is to help users personalize their news feeds according to their interests. But at a broader level, it also aims to respond to criticism that the algorithms that govern the Newsfeed make people feel bad or contribute. .
At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to reduce the amount of political content in the News Feed as a whole. “People don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience,” Zuckerberg in January. In addition, Facebook already has ways to remove political messages from the News Feed.
In addition to polls, Facebook will be testing another tool to help users have more control over what they see with a new “x” button that will hide a post in the News Feed. The service already allows users to hide messages, but the option is buried under the “…” menu, so many people may not know it exists.
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