Facebook announced yesterday that it is adding a feature called "Why am I seeing this post?". This is similar to "Why am I seeing this ad?", Which appeared in 2014 next to the ads.
Facebook's new feature has a drop-down menu that gives users information on why a post appeared in the news feed, along with links to personalization controls.
The purpose is to give users more transparency about how the Facebook news algorithm works. This update comes as the company faces a few important events that have highlighted the weaknesses of the platform and are considered harmful. These include the role played by Facebook in spreading a video that was shot at assault on mosques of New Zealand two weeks ago.
Η Facebook's announcement says that users will have access to "Why am I seeing this post?" as a drop-down menu, in the right-hand corner of posts from Friends, Pages, and Groups, and it will display information on how the algorithm decided to rank the position of each post, including:
- Why you see a specific post in your news feed - for example, if the post comes from a friend you have, a group you join, or a page you follow.
- What information generally has the greatest influence on the series of posts, including: (a) how often you interact with posts, people, pages, or groups. (b) how often do you interact with a particular type of publication, for example, videos, photos or links. and (c) the popularity of the posts shared by people, Pages and Groups you follow.
The same menu will also include links to personalization options including First See, Unfollow, Prepricenews feed options and Privacy Shortcuts.