Facebook changes its news feed to focus on friends and family

Zuckerberg said on Thursday that he is changing the goals given to the product teams from stressing on the need to help people in finding the relevant content to assisting people in having more healthy and meaningful social interactions.

"As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media", Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook page.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants the time users spend on the social network to be more meaningful, so an overhaul is in store.

But there are also a zillion other ways you can get news from us. They make this argument despite the fact that Facebook has editorial control over content posted on the platform and - with the changes now being implemented - the fact that Facebook is deciding what factors make news sources worthy of being placed in its News Feed.

This update would be one of the most significant ones we have made.

"What are we really here to do?" he told The Times.

For now, Facebook users see a lot of videos, news, and other content from public pages, brands, and businesses, but that's about to change soon.

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The company is planning to change the filter for its news feed to prioritize what friends and family share, while reducing the amount of non-advertising content from publishers and brands.

After went public with the news feed change on Thursday, the website's share value dropped by almost four per cent before U.S. markets opened on Friday. He added that the news feed update relating the ranking of posts is expected to assist the goal.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) will soon roll out its first major change to its signature News Feed in several years, and many investors and analysts are anxious that the revamp could damage its business. BuzzFeed News, which built its distribution largely through Facebook, already reacted to the algorithm change Thursday with a Facebook ad prompting users to download the BuzzFeed app before news disappears from the feed.

The company plans to change that, according to the social media mogul, citing research findings that using Facebook to connect with friends and family leads to improvement in a person's well-being.

"On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos - even if they're entertaining or informative - may not be as good", reveals Zuckerberg. That means the experience has largely centered on passive consumption of content.

While Facebook is certainly taking a risky move by changing up the core element of its flagship product, it doesn't seem like it will have as big of a negative impact in the short term as many investors are anxious about. It wants people to feel better each time they use the social network. And if we do the right thing, I believe that will be good for our community and our business over the long term too. That's because Facebook ads now produce some of the best returns on investment compared to competing social platforms. By focusing on bringing people closer together-whether it's with family and friends, or around important moments in the world-we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent.

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