There is no denying that Facebook is the largest social media in the world, ever. But with more than 2 billion users, many things can go wrong.
With its huge amount of users and influence, the company has met many criticisms and blames, especially regarding user privacy and its data targeting methods.
Giving the power back to its users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for increased government regulation for internet platforms.
And that is to include its own.
In his manifesto, Zuckerberg declared that Facebook is committing to privacy, while looking for ways to prevent incidents like the Russian meddling with U.S. Presidential election, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal to ever happen again.
Realizing the series of mishaps and errors the company experiences, Facebook is making a tweak to its News Feed, its most important feature.
Facebook's News Feed is generally the social media's primary feature through which users are exposed to content posted on the network.
News Feed highlights information that includes profile changes, friends' posts, upcoming events, and birthdays, among other updates.
Using algorithms, Facebook selects a handful of posts and updates to show users at any given time when they visit their feed.
As Zuckerberg is trying to deliver his promise for protecting users' data, Facebook's News Feed is tweaked to surface information regarding why certain posts are shown.
Called 'Why am I seeing this post?', the feature would help users "better understand and more easily control what you see from friends, Pages and Groups in your News Feed."
To use the feature that is rolling out gradually, users need to click on the drop down menu in the right corner of any post. There, they’ll see "how [their] past interactions impact the rankings of posts in [their] News Feed."
This should at least, answer people's question about why they're seeing certain posts, but not others.
It is like Facebook in giving a peek on how its algorithms work behind its long-closed doors. That, in an attempt to become more transparent about why News Feed looks the way it does.
Other information users can see, include:
- What information generally has the largest influence over the order of posts, including: (a) how often users interact with posts from people, Pages or Groups; (b) how often they interact with a specific type of post, for example, videos, photos or links; and (c) the popularity of the posts shared by the people, Pages and Groups they follow.
- Shortcuts to controls, such as See First, Unfollow, News Feed Preferences and Privacy Shortcuts, to help you personalize your News Feed.
And on top of this News Feed tweak, Facebook is also making some improvements to 'Why am I seeing this ad?', the tool the social media launched back in 2014.
Previously, users can only see things like basic demographic details, interests and website visits that contribute to the ads they see on their News Feed.
With the update, Facebook is including additional details about the ads users see, when information on an advertiser’s list matches the users' Facebook profile.
'Why am I seeing this ad?' can also provide details such as when the advertiser uploaded the information or if the advertiser worked with another marketing partner to run the ad.
Both of these updates are part of Facebook's "ongoing investment in giving people more context and control" across its platform.
While it may not undo the years of distrust Facebook has garnered, but it’s a start to the right direction.