Facebook To Demote Posts That Ask For 'Likes' Or Shares (recode.net)

Facebook is cracking down on a new type of clickbait: Posts that ask people to "Like" or share or comment to goose engagement numbers, what Facebook is calling "engagement bait." Their solution? Demote the posts considered to be "engagement bait." Recode reports: Facebook has decided it doesn't like publishers gaming the system this way, and claims users don't like it either."People have told us that they dislike spammy posts on Facebook that goad them into interacting with likes, shares, comments, and other actions," the company wrote on its blog. So starting Monday, posts that Facebook considers to be engagement bait will be pushed down in News Feed. Beginning in a few weeks, publishers and Pages that continue to utilize this tactic will see their reach diminished for all of their posts.

Comments

Knee-jerk reaction..

[Vegan Cyclist]

"My kid/pet/grandparent is missing, please share" [algorithm downvotes]

"Please share this link to find your local voting station" [algorithm downvotes]

"Evacuation order in place, please share and get out" [algorithm downvotes]

Etc..

Here's a better idea: an option to reduce content from people you downvote yourself, so you can more easily ignore those who do spam a million things a day, and not miss anything that's important and should be shared.