Facebook is to change how its news feed works, making posts from businesses, brands and media less prominent.Instead, content that sparks conversations among family and friends who use the site will be emphasised, explained chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg on his page.
Organisations on Facebook may see the popularity of their posts decrease as a result, the firm acknowledged. The changes will take effect over the coming weeks.
“We’ve got feedback from our community that public content – posts from businesses, brands and media – is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other,” wrote Mr Zuckerberg.
He said that he and his team felt a responsibility to make sure Facebook was good for people’s wellbeing.
If public content is to be promoted, it will now have to be seen to encourage community interaction.
Another example given by Facebook was live video feeds, which tend to generate much discussion.
“By making these changes, I expect that the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down,” Mr Zuckerberg said.
CEO Zuckerberg had vowed to “fix” up Facebook in 2018, saying he wanted to ensure that users were protected from abuse and that time spent on the site would be time well spent.
– BBC