Facebook announced on Friday that it was "improving" its News Feed features by taking into consideration not only the likes or comments on a post, but also the amount of time users spend reading a story, reported Engadget.
"Just because someone didn't like, comment or share a story in their News Feed doesn't mean it wasn't meaningful to them. There are times when, for example, people want to see information about a serious current event, but don't necessarily want to like or comment on it," said Facebook.
Basically, if you linger on a post longer than usual, Facebook will keep that in mind and similar posts will show up more often on your News Feed. Conversely, if you quickly scroll through posts you are not interested in, Facebook will take your distastes into account, according to Techradar.
In order to take into account slow Internet connectivity, the system will compare the time you spend on a particular post as opposed to your general browsing habits. Facebook said that this algorithm will enable them to better identify stories that are more important to users. The new feature has been released and will continue to roll out over the next couple of weeks.
