Facebook announced it has tweaked its algorithm once again, and will now be more widely surfacing videos based on how users interact with the content, as opposed to their popularity (as determined by likes, shares and play counts).
To decide which videos users want to see in their News Feeds, Facebook will be looking at positive interactions people have with the clips — whether they unmute the videos, for example, or if the video was expanded to full screen.
The move is to “help people see more of the videos they care about and fewer of the videos they don’t,” the social network wrote in a blog post. Facebook is rolling out the changes starting today.
The announcement is part of a broader shift away from likes, comments and shares as a barometer for what is shown in users’ News Feeds. Two weeks ago, Facebook told publishers it’s filling people’s feeds with content based on how long they spent reading posts.
This method has both positives and negatives. The argument in favor posits that customizing the News Feed to include what people are actually paying attention rather than a viral clickbait post could make Facebook a better experience. On the other hand, someone watching a video out of sheer curiosity instead of it being something they’re actually interested in, then it could have unintended consequences.
So careful what (and, increasingly, how) you click because Facebook is watching.
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