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Facebook Social Networks

New Facebook Update Lets You Choose News Feed Content 54

An anonymous reader writes The company has rolled out some changes that make it easier to control what comes in your News Feed. From the article: "The social network unveiled a new settings menu and customization options for News Feed that allows users to personalize the types of content they see. The News Feed settings menu, which appears in the Facebook apps and on the web, displays which friends appear most often in your News Feed and which friends you've chosen to unfollow. From there, you can choose to unfollow people you don't want to see anymore or re-follow (Facebook calls it "reconnecting" with) those you've previously hidden from your feed."
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New Facebook Update Lets You Choose News Feed Content

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  • How about... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Goose In Orbit ( 199293 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @06:34PM (#48346929)

    ...just showing everything, in the order it arrives?

    • by ihtoit ( 3393327 )

      I would say "this", if I actually used bacefuck.

    • Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wisnoskij ( 1206448 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @06:43PM (#48346987) Homepage
      Because then you would miss marriage announcements from your friends because "I Fing Love Science" and 100 other pages you like posted a meme. For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day, they get more posts than seconds in the day, and even more people (like 99% of Facebook) get more posts than they will ever read. Just because I like Cumberpach does not mean I am interested in reading every thing his pr guy posts, and that like is not equivalent to liking my best friend.

      The only possible solution is for FB to figure out how important posts are and what they are, and based on individual browsing habits and likes promote the important stuff in your feed.
      • Re:How about... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Goose In Orbit ( 199293 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @06:57PM (#48347067)

        If the ranking mechanism FB used was any good, I wouldn't have installed FB Purity to override it...

        • by qvatch ( 576224 )
          of course, it can only show you what facebook allows you to see. There is still a level of filtering before the browser gets to order things.
        • ...and you wouldn't need to say who you'd like to hear more or less from either. Essentially, they're saying "our 'big data' skillz aren't up to doing what you actually want" (or maybe they're saying "your 'friends' are so full of shit we can't sift out the good stuff from the endless drivel").

      • by joh ( 27088 )

        No, they should just show you relentless everything you get. If it's too much, go and restrict it.

        What FB does is not showing you everything and additionally show you things you never wanted to see just because someone paid them for it.

        But of course FB is a business, not a service. It's more like a personal TV channel than anything else. You get fed enough of what you want just enough to make you see what others want you to see.

      • by darkain ( 749283 )

        Yes, because this is SUCH a problem on sites like Twitter... where if a user feels a particular account is flooding their feed too much, they are just a click or two away from an "unfollow" button.

        I don't need a computer telling me that I've had too much information and to restrict how often new content can appear on my feed, I'm quite capable of doing this myself!

      • by ZipK ( 1051658 )

        Because then you would miss marriage announcements from your friends ...

        Then how about providing a Firehose tab to let you easily switch between curated and uncurated feeds?

      • For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day

        This is not a problem. You just set notifications for the groups of people whose comments you want to be sure to see, with email if necessary. So no, the best solution for the user would still be to have everything show up in chronological order, because they have plenty of tools to notify them of "important" messages. But currently, Facebook (and G+) will actually _suppress_ some of the stuff in your feed from friends to whom you regularly reply and whose posts you regularly upvote, facebook being notably

      • by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        For a significant number of accounts the users could not keep up if they browsed all day....The only possible solution is FB...

        Really? You've got no more creativity than that? The problem you mentioned isn't even a problem for the vast majority of FB members. And in spite of allowing us to change settings to "Most Recent", FB continually switches itself back. Pure jackass move on their part.

    • Re: How about... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by therufus ( 677843 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @06:52PM (#48347047)

      I hate having to go to settings, most recent, every time I load failbook on my phone. I've complained constantly but nobody cares.

      Not to mention the random refreshing that bumps me to the top of my feed when I'm reading something 40 swipes below.

    • Re:How about... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Zanadou ( 1043400 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @07:26PM (#48347173)
      Try this: http://www.fbpurity.com/ [fbpurity.com]
    • ...just showing everything, in the order it arrives?

      The bigger question is, Who uses Facebook to read the news?

      • You don't want... this is a question...well, it's like a horror movie when a character is standing in a dark room, hears a scary noise, and asks "Who's there?". It's one of those type of questions.

    • by tylernt ( 581794 )

      You can. It's called an Interest List. It's the only way I can stand to use FB.

  • An anonymous reader linked a mashable.com article about Facebook? FRONT PAGE
  • by Anonymous Coward

    They allow you to choose what you read. This must be what freedom feels like. Captcha: comply

  • Bet it won't let you turn off crap like Games You May Like and other rubbish forced on us by facebook.
  • by Mister Liberty ( 769145 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @07:21PM (#48347159)

    Why the flying fuck would I need another site to feed me news? To be honest, I've visited the website called Facebook
    maybe thrice, some indefinite time ago; it felt to be somewhat overhyped.

    • by joh ( 27088 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @08:00PM (#48347325)

      Why the flying fuck would I need another site to feed me news?

      Facebook is the website to end all websites.

      People seem to use Facebook as a kind of mental chewing gum. There's always some gossip and "news" to scroll through. Sometimes you're interested in something of it. An endless on-the-go stream of gossip.

      • Exactly. It's the modern equivalent of sitting down in front of a TV and flipping around just to see what's on. It's a little better than that, though, in that FB requires you to make active choices; it's not just 'on', you have to take action to make it 'work'.

        I neither hate nor love Facebook.

    • by Ksevio ( 865461 )
      The "News feed" is not general news, it's a feed of "new" stuff your friends post. Could be that they're hosting a party or a picture from dinner or even a news article on a recent event. Really only is useful if you have friends who post on it.
  • by theodp ( 442580 ) on Sunday November 09, 2014 @07:33PM (#48347207)

    Facebook and Twitter owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to RSS [wikipedia.org].

  • Users should use their brains and re-evaluate their friends lists. Removing those who spam pointless bullshit on a minute basis?
    Sorry, i forgot, Facebook "Friends" are just pointless numbers to most people, whilst being profit for Facebook.

  • They allow you to unfollow a friend? Wouldn't that no longer be a friend? Is this for the people who don't have the sack to call out or just plain unfriend someone? As someone that doesn't use Facebook, I just don't get the folks that do anymore. I must be in a group of Facebook hipsters because my group of friends and extended group either don't have Facebook (deleted or never had) and those that have it but no longer log in and use it, and one person who uses it to just troll and post political images

  • Choose your news? Just like voting in "elections" - sure, you have a choice...

    But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter because it's all bullshit anyway.
  • That would have saved me from all the pants-on-head retarded political propaganda.

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