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New Facebook Update Lets You Choose News Feed Content

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-feature dept.

An anonymous reader writes The company has rolled out some changes that make it easier to control what comes in your News Feed. From the article: "The social network unveiled a new settings menu and customization options for News Feed that allows users to personalize the types of content they see. The News Feed settings menu, which appears in the Facebook apps and on the web, displays which friends appear most often in your News Feed and which friends you've chosen to unfollow. From there, you can choose to unfollow people you don't want to see anymore or re-follow (Facebook calls it "reconnecting" with) those you've previously hidden from your feed."

37 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. How about... by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...just showing everything, in the order it arrives?

    1. Re:How about... by wisnoskij · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because then you would miss marriage announcements from your friends because "I Fing Love Science" and 100 other pages you like posted a meme. For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day, they get more posts than seconds in the day, and even more people (like 99% of Facebook) get more posts than they will ever read. Just because I like Cumberpach does not mean I am interested in reading every thing his pr guy posts, and that like is not equivalent to liking my best friend.

      The only possible solution is for FB to figure out how important posts are and what they are, and based on individual browsing habits and likes promote the important stuff in your feed.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    2. Re: How about... by therufus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I hate having to go to settings, most recent, every time I load failbook on my phone. I've complained constantly but nobody cares.

      Not to mention the random refreshing that bumps me to the top of my feed when I'm reading something 40 swipes below.

      --
      You moved your mouse. Please restart Windows for changes to take effect.
    3. Re:How about... by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the ranking mechanism FB used was any good, I wouldn't have installed FB Purity to override it...

    4. Re: How about... by CaptainDork · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've complained constantly but nobody cares.

      We don't care.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    5. Re:How about... by qvatch · · Score: 1

      of course, it can only show you what facebook allows you to see. There is still a level of filtering before the browser gets to order things.

    6. Re:How about... by Zanadou · · Score: 3, Informative

      Try this: http://www.fbpurity.com/

    7. Re:How about... by joh · · Score: 1

      No, they should just show you relentless everything you get. If it's too much, go and restrict it.

      What FB does is not showing you everything and additionally show you things you never wanted to see just because someone paid them for it.

      But of course FB is a business, not a service. It's more like a personal TV channel than anything else. You get fed enough of what you want just enough to make you see what others want you to see.

    8. Re:How about... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      ...just showing everything, in the order it arrives?

      The bigger question is, Who uses Facebook to read the news?

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    9. Re:How about... by darkain · · Score: 1

      Yes, because this is SUCH a problem on sites like Twitter... where if a user feels a particular account is flooding their feed too much, they are just a click or two away from an "unfollow" button.

      I don't need a computer telling me that I've had too much information and to restrict how often new content can appear on my feed, I'm quite capable of doing this myself!

    10. Re: How about... by antdude · · Score: 1

      NBA, CBS, Obama, Comcast, Toyota, Care Bears, etc., and I care though. :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    11. Re:How about... by tylernt · · Score: 1

      You can. It's called an Interest List. It's the only way I can stand to use FB.

      --
      DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
    12. Re:How about... by ZipK · · Score: 2

      Because then you would miss marriage announcements from your friends ...

      Then how about providing a Firehose tab to let you easily switch between curated and uncurated feeds?

    13. Re:How about... by hsmith · · Score: 2

      Twitter is going to start curating your feed for you as well... http://phandroid.com/2014/09/04/twitter-facebook-style-filtered-feed/

    14. Re:How about... by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      You don't want... this is a question...well, it's like a horror movie when a character is standing in a dark room, hears a scary noise, and asks "Who's there?". It's one of those type of questions.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    15. Re:How about... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day

      This is not a problem. You just set notifications for the groups of people whose comments you want to be sure to see, with email if necessary. So no, the best solution for the user would still be to have everything show up in chronological order, because they have plenty of tools to notify them of "important" messages. But currently, Facebook (and G+) will actually _suppress_ some of the stuff in your feed from friends to whom you regularly reply and whose posts you regularly upvote, facebook being notably horrible about this since forever.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:How about... by coofercat · · Score: 1

      ...and you wouldn't need to say who you'd like to hear more or less from either. Essentially, they're saying "our 'big data' skillz aren't up to doing what you actually want" (or maybe they're saying "your 'friends' are so full of shit we can't sift out the good stuff from the endless drivel").

    17. Re:How about... by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day....The only possible solution is FB...

      Really? You've got no more creativity than that? The problem you mentioned isn't even a problem for the vast majority of FB members. And in spite of allowing us to change settings to "Most Recent", FB continually switches itself back. Pure jackass move on their part.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    18. Re:How about... by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 1

      I already do... :^D

  2. An anonymous reader, eh? by The+Larch · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    An anonymous reader linked a mashable.com article about Facebook? FRONT PAGE

  3. How nice of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They allow you to choose what you read. This must be what freedom feels like. Captcha: comply

  4. Yes but will it get rid of ... by Going_Digital · · Score: 2

    Bet it won't let you turn off crap like Games You May Like and other rubbish forced on us by facebook.

    1. Re:Yes but will it get rid of ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, it does.

      In the upper right corner of one of those posts, click the down indicator and select "Hide all from ..."

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  5. Silly question -- but... by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 2

    Why the flying fuck would I need another site to feed me news? To be honest, I've visited the website called Facebook
    maybe thrice, some indefinite time ago; it felt to be somewhat overhyped.

    1. Re:Silly question -- but... by joh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why the flying fuck would I need another site to feed me news?

      Facebook is the website to end all websites.

      People seem to use Facebook as a kind of mental chewing gum. There's always some gossip and "news" to scroll through. Sometimes you're interested in something of it. An endless on-the-go stream of gossip.

    2. Re:Silly question -- but... by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      The "News feed" is not general news, it's a feed of "new" stuff your friends post. Could be that they're hosting a party or a picture from dinner or even a news article on a recent event. Really only is useful if you have friends who post on it.

    3. Re:Silly question -- but... by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      Exactly. It's the modern equivalent of sitting down in front of a TV and flipping around just to see what's on. It's a little better than that, though, in that FB requires you to make active choices; it's not just 'on', you have to take action to make it 'work'.

      I neither hate nor love Facebook.

  6. Reinventing the RSS Wheel by theodp · · Score: 2

    Facebook and Twitter owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to RSS.

    1. Re:Reinventing the RSS Wheel by toonces33 · · Score: 1

      You can keep telling yourself that, but nobody is buying it.

    2. Re:Reinventing the RSS Wheel by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      Toonces?

      Not to be personal, but is your last name Mearls?

  7. Re:New Name Time by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    But according to Wikitionary, "Ars" meant "burn" in ancient french.

    It makes also sense after all.

  8. Re:New Name Time by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

    Never knew that. It gives "arson" in English and "ardent" in both French and English.

    But else, fuck shitbook!

  9. Re:New Name Time by dgatwood · · Score: 2

    But according to Wikitionary [wiktionary.org], "Ars" meant "burn" in ancient french.

    And in Helvetica and Arial, burn = bum. It makes perfect sense, indeed. The British were just using an illegible font when they came up with their slang.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  10. Or.. by danknight48 · · Score: 1

    Users should use their brains and re-evaluate their friends lists. Removing those who spam pointless bullshit on a minute basis?
    Sorry, i forgot, Facebook "Friends" are just pointless numbers to most people, whilst being profit for Facebook.

  11. A Friend you Unfollow? by linuxrunner · · Score: 1

    They allow you to unfollow a friend? Wouldn't that no longer be a friend? Is this for the people who don't have the sack to call out or just plain unfriend someone? As someone that doesn't use Facebook, I just don't get the folks that do anymore. I must be in a group of Facebook hipsters because my group of friends and extended group either don't have Facebook (deleted or never had) and those that have it but no longer log in and use it, and one person who uses it to just troll and post political images purposely to piss people off.

    I see it still popular with women. That and girly-men.

    --
    www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
  12. News or Propaganda? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    Choose your news? Just like voting in "elections" - sure, you have a choice...

    But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter because it's all bullshit anyway.

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
  13. It would have been nice before the US mid-terms by VIPERsssss · · Score: 1

    That would have saved me from all the pants-on-head retarded political propaganda.

    --
    We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.