YOU may not realise it, but Facebook records every single thing you do while you're logged in.
Liking a friend's status or looking at your mum's holiday snaps might seem inconsequential - but it all translates into incredibly valuable data.
Liking a friend's status or looking at your mum's holiday snaps might seem inconsequential - but it all translates into incredibly valuable data.
The world's most popular social network uses what's called a filtered feed. It's a complex algorithm that works out what you want to see when you log on by using the things you've engaged with - or, liked, clicked and commented on - in the past.
When you look at your news feed, you never see everything that everyone you know has posted. You couldn't - it would take all day. According to Facebook's own blog, the average user could potentially see about 1,500 new stories every time they log on. Those with lots of friends could see as many as 15,000.
So instead of simply showing us all these in order - like Twitter does - Facebook works out the posts we are most likely to want to see.
It does this by ranking every possible post we could see according to a number of different factors. These include:
- Interest: How much the user (YOU) is interested in the post creator (this could be a friend, a news site, or a brand - anything or anyone that posts to Facebook)
- Post performance: How popular the post has been with other users
- Creator popularity: How popular other posts by the same creator have been
- Type of post: If it's a photo, video etc
- 'Recency': How new the post is
These factors are also weighed against a whole host of other, more personal details. For example, it might be that someone very close to you - like your wife or brother - has commented on a photo. That would give a high likelihood that you will like it too.
- Interest: How much the user (YOU) is interested in the post creator (this could be a friend, a news site, or a brand - anything or anyone that posts to Facebook)
- Post performance: How popular the post has been with other users
- Creator popularity: How popular other posts by the same creator have been
- Type of post: If it's a photo, video etc
- 'Recency': How new the post is
These factors are also weighed against a whole host of other, more personal details. For example, it might be that someone very close to you - like your wife or brother - has commented on a photo. That would give a high likelihood that you will like it too.
The system works incredibly well, and it's one of the main reasons Facebook is so successful. It allows us to see plenty of the things we like, and less of the things we don't.
The problem, though, is that it gradually blocks out the other things people are talking about that don't fit the general trend. Over time, this causes a long, drawn out confirmation bias. You will tend to look at posts that confirm beliefs you already have, rather than ones that challenge them.
This is all well and good when it comes to mundane news stories or gossip from friends, but what happens if the things you tend to click on are racist? Or homophobic? Or just idiotic?
You can see my point. Facebook's algorithm would then effectively be encouraging slightly bigoted users to become more and more so through a system of positive reinforcement.
You can see my point. Facebook's algorithm would then effectively be encouraging slightly bigoted users to become more and more so through a system of positive reinforcement.
I've given an extreme example, but all of us will tend to find that we get the same old stuff coming up in our news feeds. If we haven't heard from someone in ages, we're very unlikely to see what they've been up to, precisely because we haven't heard from them in ages. This is surely the opposite of what Facebook is supposed to be all about.
On top of all this, the friends we do have left are increasingly getting crowded out by brands who've paid for space on our news feeds. If we then engage with the brands who have paid for the space, we'll never get rid of them.
This ecosystem is all part of what social media marketing is all about, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. People do actually like to engage with brands, and are often happy to see more and more of them in their feeds. But I suspect that is not always the case. In fact, I doubt whether many people even realise it's happening at all.
This ecosystem is all part of what social media marketing is all about, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. People do actually like to engage with brands, and are often happy to see more and more of them in their feeds. But I suspect that is not always the case. In fact, I doubt whether many people even realise it's happening at all.
So what can you do to take control of your feed?
Well, you could just switch your news feed from 'Top Stories' to 'Most Recent'. Then you'll get everything in the order it was posted.
But, of course, that will mean you become much more familiar with that girl you went to school with, who now has three kids and posts hundreds of pictures of them all day... every. single. day.
Like I said, the algorithm isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Alternatively, you can begin un-liking. Remember when you thought the pages you 'liked' were just there to show the people who looked at your profile all the cool things you're interested in? Umm, yeah... that's not what that's for.
But, of course, that will mean you become much more familiar with that girl you went to school with, who now has three kids and posts hundreds of pictures of them all day... every. single. day.
Like I said, the algorithm isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Alternatively, you can begin un-liking. Remember when you thought the pages you 'liked' were just there to show the people who looked at your profile all the cool things you're interested in? Umm, yeah... that's not what that's for.
Every time you like a page you make yourself a better target for advertisers. To be fair, since they know more about you, you're probably more likely to actually want the things you see in the ads - but that's not what Facebook is for! Obviously, if you really do like something and want to see more of it in your feed, then like away - just ditch the ones you're bored of.
- Second, go through your friends list and look for people you haven't seen in your feed for a long time. It may be that they haven't been posting - but it's far more likely they're being crowded out by everyone else. Go to their page and like a few status updates or pictures - you'll start to see more of them when you log on.
- Third, stop clicking on shit you don't want to read. We all do it - the "You'll never believe what happened next" posts get me every time. You click the link and, surprise surprise, you absolutely CAN believe what happened next. And guess what happens next?? That's right, you get a load more rubbish posts from the "You'll never guess what happened next" brigade next time you log on.
- Lastly, try to engage with things that challenge your beliefs. The more you stay in your comfort zone, the tighter the circle will close around you. Some of the most interesting things you'll see on Facebook will come from people or pages you completely disagree with, because they'll challenge you to figure out why they are wrong. Sometimes they might even change your mind.
Either way, you will keep your horizons open and avoid the confirmation bias.
I'd love to hear what you think - so get in touch on here, or tweet me @TheTommyEdwards.
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