Maybe this way we’ll finally get rid of those annoying Bitstrips.
Yesterday, Facebook announced an update to its Newsfeed algorithm which would favor “high quality content” i.e. news articles instead of memes, comics or other non-informative links.
Here’s why it’s doing that:
Our surveys show that on average people prefer links to high quality articles about current events, their favorite sports team or shared interests, to the latest meme. Starting soon, we’ll be doing a better job of distinguishing between a high quality article on a website versus a meme photo hosted somewhere other than Facebook when people click on those stories on mobile. This means that high quality articles you or others read may show up a bit more prominently in your News Feed, and meme photos may show up a bit less prominently.
In addition to surfacing news article links higher in the newsfeed, Facebook will also recommend similar articles to the ones they click on, using predictive analytics. This is a godsend to media sites, as it will increase engagement and traffic referrals coming from Facebook, which is where most people are getting their news in the first place. Here’s what it’ll look like:
Finally, to ramp up even more activity surrounding these links, Facebook will occasionally resurface article posts when your friends comment on an article, which in turn is more likely to get you to comment as well.
Blogs, news, sports and entertainment sites will be pretty happy with this new development. But what about the people who’ve made their names putting up the best, and most hilarious cat-memes? Now that they’ll be consigned to the bottom of the newsfeed, does this mean more people will actually use the internet to *gasp* READ?
