More control of your Facebook feed

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) Some changes coming to your Facebook feed in the coming weeks.

Facebook says it’s giving its users more control. For years the social media site has used powerful algorithms to spoon-feed users content in their timeline. Now users will be able to determine just how much click bait you want to scroll through.

In January, 2023, Facebook announced a major algorithm shift to prioritize posts that spark conversation and meaningful interactions. The move is aimed at giving users the power to regulate their news feed, such as increasing or decreasing spam, sensitive or fact-checked content.

The control settings are much like what’s already available to Instagram, also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta.

So if you want to see more “low quality” or “unoriginal “content like spam in your feeds, select “don’t reduce” content. The same goes for “fact-checked” posts like topics related to politically sensitive subjects like COVID-19 or the 2020 election. However, the option is not available for “sensitive” content such as suicidal posts.

“We’re doing this in response to users telling us that they want a greater ability to decide what they see on our apps,” Facebook said in a statement. “This builds on work that we’ve been doing for a long time in this area and will help to make user controls on Facebook more consistent with the ones that already exist on Instagram.”

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