14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is tweaking up its News Feed algorithm again, making it focus more on articles, in an effort to increase the visibility of the ones that get more clicks on mobile devices. It is also trying to bring forth those news posts that have received comments from your friends.
Basically, if your friends make posts, like or click articles on their mobile devices, there should be more links to articles popping up in the News Feed, which will apply for both the desktop and mobile versions, although the bulk should apparently show up on smartphones and tablets.
The company is also looking into implementing another change. For instance, clicking on an article could soon display up to three related articles directed below the News Feed post.
“Starting soon, we’ll be doing a better job of distinguishing between a high quality article on a website versus a meme photo hosted somewhere other than Facebook when people click on those stories on mobile. This means that high quality articles you or others read may show up a bit more prominently in your News Feed, and meme photos may show up a bit less prominently,” Facebook wrote in the announcement post.
This seems to be one of Facebook’s efforts to get more people to check out the latest news from Facebook, something that studies indicate hasn’t really been happening, since a very small percentage name Facebook as the go-to place to get their news, preferring Twitter for this.
Facebook is also fiddling with how it promoted articles in the News Feed, occasionally putting forth that have received new comments from your friends. Although the word “occasionally” isn’t exactly explained. Facebook notes that after people read a story, they’re unlikely to go back and find it again to see what their friends were saying about it.
However, they promise not to do this for every article, but rather “in moderation.”