It only took a few years of complaining before Facebook finally gave in to the complaints. Where once was a feed based on an algorithm of what you might like to see, you can now view news feeds in reverse-chronological order, as they call it nowadays. However, there will still be a section where you’ll be bombarded with videos and content in a TikTok-like fashion.
There have been plenty of debates on the best way forward for Facebook news feeds. In the beginning, you had simply seen them as they appeared. You had seen plenty of posts from groups and pages, but that meant missing out on what your friends and family were up to.
When Facebook fixed this issue in 2015, it didn’t go as expected. You saw the most arbitrary posts appear at the top as if it was the most exciting thing to ever happen on planet earth. Oh look, ma, these ants are cute. Step forward a few years, and post-engagement became a thing. So when your family and all their cousins commented on a terrible post by your aunt’s cousin’s daughter’s boyfriend, you and the entire family saw it on the feed right at the top.
Enter the new Facebook algorithm that’s meant to show you feeds that should mean a lot to you based on your online behavior. That means seeing adverts for the latest games or toys, simply because you wrote an article about it on WordPress. It also means A.I. getting your personality completely wrong and sharing feeds that you just don’t care about.
In an effort to calm the masses, Facebook is now giving you two choices, much like Twitter did. You can go to the home page and see videos and curated content, or click on your news feed and see posts from family and friends in reverse chronological order. It’s not a solution, but simply the company deferring the choice back to you.
At least Meta has agreed to start sharing revenue for licensed music, which I feel is a positive contribution.
