Facebook is due to release an update to the news feed algorithm that its users are sure to be happy about. The change is designed to reduce spammy stories, spam links, and recycled content as well as annoying posts that contain like-baiting.
The algorithm update is designed to give a penalty to marketers using the shady tactics listed above. “Today we are announcing a series of improvements to News Feed to reduce stories that people frequently tell us are spammy and that they don’t want to see,” Facebook said in a blog post. “Many of these stories are published by Pages that deliberately try and game news feed to get more distribution than they normally would. Our update targets three broad categories of this type of feed spam behavior.”
These three broad categories are:
Like-baiting
Like-baiting is a practice in which the brand or business’s post attempts to get news feed readers to like, comment or share the post in an effort to receive additional distribution and an extended reach beyond what it would normally.
Frequently Circulated Content
This speaks for itself. Photos and videos that are repeatedly uploaded to Facebook will also be targeted in the update.
Spammy Links
Spammy links consist of posts that claim to link to a photo album or video but instead take the user to a site filled with ads. Reducing posts that use inaccurate language or formatting to trick people into clicking on a link that takes them to a website featuring only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads is another focus of the algorithm update.