The beginning of 2018 saw a dramatic change in how the world’s most popular social media platform, Facebook, presented its content. Curation has always been a real issue with Facebook, but users who were once empowered to decide their personal feed scroll are now actively being managed. Here’s how to gain back some control.
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Regaining Facebook Feed Control
It’s really not that complicated. Find a valued source, walk the browser to https://www.facebook.com/buy.bitcoin.news, click Like, and next to that button click Follow; while on the Follow button be sure to select See First. This way, valued content will continue to flow through your personal Facebook feed. Otherwise, Facebook has decided to curate content for its users, and information and news users relied upon, such as News.Bitcoin.com, are quieted in favor of bad vacation photos in front of monuments.
“One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent,” began CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He went on to contend, “we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.”
This means content some found either objectionable or cumbersome is to be struck in order for a more personalized Facebook experience. As such, “we’re making a major change to how we build Facebook. I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions,” Mr. Zuckerberg explained.
It’s a grand, seemingly mature vision from the one animating Mr. Zuckerberg’s early enterprise: wooing college women. Facebook’s value, at least initially, was its personalization. If a user’s attraction to the platform was to “connect” with other people, then that option was beyond available through Friend requests, community forums, groups, and so forth.
Nanny Zuck
However, at some point Facebook became a distribution channel. The company sought outlets from across the spectrum, large conglomerates to niche news. Like a drug dealer, Facebook welcomed all comers, and many a business was built and maintained afloat through Facebook’s ever-growing user base. And then things began to change.
Mr. Zuckerberg and his crew have distinct business interests. To pretend otherwise is to be naive. Anecdotal and university level research suggests Facebook favored slants on the news over others, and often designated opinions out of its favor as “violating community standards.” Fair enough. It’s their company, their rules. But then the advertising revenue idea switched to promoted content, and, again, standards were all over the place.
It’s clear Mr. Zuckerberg has gone full Nanny: “We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being.” Furthermore, “Some news helps start conversations on important issues. But too often today, watching video, reading news or getting a page update is just a passive experience.”
Facebook is like that super beautiful woman who mistakes her winning of the genetic lottery with profundity, only to find out when her looks fade how little interest there actually is in her ideas. She’s often left shocked, stunned. Something like that is happening with Facebook and its success. Facebook believes its hype, ascribing to itself too much importance and, as a result, too much philosophical doo-goodery.
Take Control
The market will work it out, especially as competitors rise. A decade’s worth of social media experience has humbled the most aspirational of tech executives. Very often adults want shackles lifted and the power to decide what they see to be entirely their own. Businesses that head in the opposite direction, focusing on “well-being” rather than killer content for users, will fade.
For now, alternatives for social media are aplenty, even if Facebook dominates. In a crazy, always changing cryptocurrency ecosystem, having access to timely news from a trusted source only increases in value.
What do you think of Facebook’s changes? Let us know in the comments section.
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Facebook.
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