14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is introducing what looks like a rather minor feature but which may end up having quite an effect on the way people, especially new users, engage with the social network. Facebook is now suggesting Pages to users who may have just signed up and don’t have a lot of friends yet. The suggestions will be automatic and based on what users from the same demographic already like. Facebook says there will be no paid suggestions and that all the Pages will be picked by an algorithm.
“To help out newcomers, we're launching a new way for them to find interesting Pages. Starting today, when new people join the site, they will see a list of Pages that other people in a similar demographic to them also commonly like,” Ziqing Mao, a software engineer at Facebook, wrote.
“We want to make sure that the Pages people connect to are as valuable as possible, so we'll only suggest Pages that are posting engaging updates. The list of Pages is strictly determined by an algorithm, so none of the suggestions is sponsored and Page administrators can't pay or ask to be included,” he announced.
The suggestions will part of the getting started process along with things like finding friends and filling out the profile information. The idea is to give new users a place to start from. With close to 500 million users, it may be that most people don’t have any problems finding their friends on the social network, but a kick start ensures that new users will stick around since they’ll probably find they like.
Facebook already uses suggestions to highlight Pages your friends like and people you may have something in common with, but these are based on your existing friends. This new feature is similar in scope to Twitter Suggested Users which, as the name implies, helps new users find people they may want to follow.