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Facebook Downranks News Feed Links To Crappy Sites Smothered In Ads (techcrunch.com)
Facebook's New Feed algorithm is targeting links that send people to crappy websites filled with advertisements. According to their blog post, Facebook defines a "low-quality site" as one "containing little substantive content, and that is covered in disruptive, shocking or malicious ads." TechCrunch reports: The change could help Facebook fight fake news, as fakers are often financially motivated and blanket their false information articles in ads. High-quality sites may see a slight boost in referral traffic, while crummy sites will see a decline as the update rolls out gradually over the coming months. Facebook tells me that the change will see it refuse an immaterial number of ad impressions that earned it negligible amounts of money, so it shouldn't have a significant impact on Facebook's revenue. Facebook product manager for News Feed Greg Marra tells me Facebook made the decision based on surveys of users about what disturbed their News Feed experience. One pain point they commonly cited was links that push them to "misleading, sensational, spammy, or otherwise low-quality experiences... [including] sexual content, shocking content, and other things that are going to be really disruptive." Today's change is important because if users don't trust the content on the other side of the links and ads they see in News Feed, they'll click them less. That could reduce Facebook's advertising revenue and the power it derives from controlling referral traffic. Getting sent to a low-quality, shocking site from News Feed could also frustrate users and cause them to end their Facebook browsing session, depriving the social network of further ad views, engagement and content sharing.
Facebook Downranks News Feed Links To Crappy Sites Smothered In Ads
In other words, "Do As I Say, Not As I Do."
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
So sorry Slashdot. I guess no Facebook love for you...
BTW, your floating ads and stealing of horizontal space for your shitty ads (are you aware there's a dumbass ad with an Edward Snowden hipster-lookalike on a scooter which is just laughably awful) are making this site suck. Some of the ads don't properly timeout and cause all kinds of scrolling issues.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Wait for it in 10, 9, 8, 7... "Facebook blocks right leaning news on Facebook."
Many web sites, and the FB app, have way too many ads, to the point that I can't even read the screen, and stop going to the site.
And, to be quite frank, it's why I removed FB from my cellphone.
Dudes. You can keep adding more ads, but if I can't see the text, I'm not going to read the site.
I don't care how interactive you make it.
I don't have time to remove twenty ads with close boxes that decide close X means link to site.
I get rid of it. Entirely.
Pennywise. Pound foolish.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The vast bulk of this kind of ad infested crap I see on Facebook is from sponsored content (IE paid ads) that have nothing to do with my actual newsfeed (as in the friends and pages I have elected to follow). They are not viral things being shared, but content actively promoted by Facebook for money. Many of these sites are so polluted with ads and broken up into so many pages you have to click through that they literally are non-functional. I wonder if Facebook is going to reduce their revenue and prevent these kinds of sponsored content?
Better known as 318230.