(WNS)--Facebook users might soon notice a slight difference in the social media network’s most popular product⎯its News Feed.
The company revealed June 29 it will update its New Feed algorithm,
which determines how posts appear and are ordered for users to see. The
algorithm will prefer content posted by friends and family over content
pushed by publishers.
Published content shared by friends and family will be treated as a
friend’s post, not as a publisher’s post. Facebook hopes that will
decrease the circulation of sensational and misleading stories and
promote stories that “inform” and “entertain.”
While the changes do not directly address concerns about conservative
censorship on the site, they are designed to answer claims the network
uses secret algorithms to suppress ideas with which the company’s
leaders disagree.
Facebook publicized the algorithm update in the company’s first
official values statement about how the company chooses what appears on
the News Feeds of its estimated 1.5 billion users.
The statement came after the social media giant faced accusations in
May of anti-conservative bias. The accusations alleged the site’s
Trending module, which shows what topics are being discussed among
users, prevented conservative news from appearing.
The updated algorithm will change Facebook’s News Feed⎯not its Trending
Topics, the focus of the accusations. But the News Feed is the site’s
main and prominent feature.
Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s News Feed product manager, said the concerns
raised by conservatives in May pushed the company to be transparent
about how it makes News Feed decisions.
The claims alarmed conservative leaders and some news organizations.
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee,
sent a letter to Facebook asking the company to explain how it selected
its Trending Topics.
“Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor
or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and
inconsistent with the values of an open internet,” Thune said in a
statement accompanying the letter.
Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg responded by emphasizing that
Facebook doesn’t censor when choosing its Trending Topics. Zuckerberg
met with 16 prominent conservatives to calm concerns and answer
questions.
“There’s a perception among conservatives that Facebook is a liberal
organization that conservatives can’t trust, and they seem genuinely
interested in changing that,” Rob Bluey, Heritage Foundation’s vice
president of publishing, who attended the meeting, told Politico.
Facebook’s published News Feed values attempt to perpetuate its claim
of openness and tolerance toward all viewpoints and resources—as long
they follow the site’s “community standards.”
“We are not in the business of picking which issues the world should
read about,” Facebook’s values statement said. “Our integrity depends on
being inclusive of all perspectives and viewpoints. … We don’t favor
specific kinds of sources—or ideas.”
The company’s community standards have created problems for
conservatives in the past. In April, Fox Business reported Facebook
banned Kristi Merrit, a Washington state resident, following posts in
which she voice support for restroom use based on biological sex, not
gender identity.
While Facebook attempted to solve one problem, it might have created
another. The updated algorithm favoring posts from friends and family
might cause issues for publishing companies, whose audience reach and
referral traffic may decline as a result of the changes, according to
Lars Backstrom, Facebook’s engineering director. That may cause pushback
from publishing and media companies that rely on Facebook to distribute
content.
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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