Facebook, the world's largest social networking platform, is modifying its News Feed algorithm to fit in two new updates that will change the way users see content. The latest effort is a part of bringing fresh and timely content to the top of the News Feed by pushing the old stories to the bottom, Facebook said in an announcement Thursday.
The social network wants to get more user-engagement on its site.
Twitter has been a hub for trending topics, where users share timely updates using hashtags. This feature has led Twitter to challenge Facebook. But now, the biggest social networking company wants a cut of that market in a bid to pull more users on its site. The update is in two phases. Facebook said the first one will keep trending topics always on the top of the feed.
Facebook explains the first change as when a friend of a page which you follow posts something about a trending topic on the site, the post will more likely appear higher in the feed. Facebook already offers a dedicated trending topics section on the top right-hand side, which was rolled out this year. But that covers the trending topics across the site and the latest update brings a personalized touch to the trending topics.
The second change Facebook rolled out on Thursday involves the placing of a particular post based on their likes, comments and shares. For instance, if a lot of people are interacting with the post right after it was posted and the activity drops a few hours later, then Facebook will promote the post higher during its early stage than in later hours, ARS Technica reported.
"Our goal with News Feed is to show everyone the right content at the right time so they don't miss the stories that are important to them," Facebook's software engineers Erich Owens and David Vickrey, wrote in the company's blog post. "We've heard feedback that there are some instances where a post from a friend or a Page you are connected to is only interesting at a specific moment, for example when you are both watching the same sports game, or talking about the season premiere of a popular TV show. There are also times when a post that is a day or two old may not be relevant to you anymore."
