Facebook announced yesterday that it is adding a feature called “Why am I seeing this post?”. It is something similar to “Why am I seeing this advertising?”, which appeared in 2014 alongside 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 before two weeks.
Η Facebook's announcement says that users will have access in "Why am I seeing this post?" as a drop-down menu in the right-hand corner of posts from Friends, Pages and Groups and will display information about how the algorithm decided to rank 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, News Feed Preferences and Shortcuts protectionof personal data.
