The Facebook News aggregator has been evolving ever since its first test runs in 2018, offering local and global news to Facebook users. Ever wonder why your Facebook Newsfeed displays the stories that it does? Well, the Facebook News aggregator is organized by algorithms designed to personalize the Facebook newsfeed using your profile, preferences, and activity. The Facebook News aggregator’s algorithm is certainly powerful but this doesn’t mean that it always hits the mark when it comes to what you’re interested in seeing in a newsfeed.
If you’re looking for a way to tailor your Facebook News aggregator to fit the stories and news you crave then there are a few steps you can take to help the Facebook News aggregator algorithm better understand your interests.
Algorithms are like prodigy toddlers. They can figure out and understand a lot of things but only if they have something to work with. They are just starting out in this digital realm and need fuel to learn more about you. The best way to feed the algorithm is to interact with various facets of Facebook.
Follow Your Interests on Facebook
Think about the things you’re most passionate about and want to stay top-of-mind. Got them? Alright, now find Facebook groups, pages, and profiles that fall under those topic categories. If you’re passionate about the ocean, try following Oceana or The Ocean Conservancy page. If you like to learn new things then following TED or Make Magazine would help the algorithm understand your interests.
Prune Your Interests on Facebook
We all know that we have those pages or groups we followed 10+ years ago during a phase of our life that isn’t relevant anymore. If you want your feed to be as relevant as possible it’s time to sift through those followed Facebook groups and pages to remove any that you don’t resonate with anymore. This way you aren’t seeing news stories that were only applicable to your interests 10 years ago.
Share Your Interests on Facebook
Share anything you come across that is the type of content you want to see in your Facebook News aggregator. Any specific topics, articles, or news outlets you love and want to see more of are the perfect examples to share on Facebook to teach the algorithm what kind of news you like to consume.
Subscribe to Your Interests on Facebook News
Within the Facebook News dashboard, you can choose the sections you wish to see in your newsfeed and uncheck the topics you don’t wish to see in your news feed. You can also utilize tricks like viewing all the content from a specific news publication if it’s one you’re particularly interested in.
These steps can help the Facebook News aggregator learn more about you so it can better provide news content to your newsfeed. That being said, it’s not a 100% full proof method of customizing your Facebook newsfeed content. The first reason is because it takes time for the algorithm to learn and compile the information about you, so it won’t happen overnight but it does happen fast. The second reason is because of sponsored posts. There’s no getting around them. They have pretty much become a fact of life in the digital age so the best thing you can do is to recognize that they are sponsored posts and ignore them.
If you have ways that you use to tailor your Facebook News aggregator that we didn’t cover, please let us know in the comments below or send us a message and we will include it!
