Social networks are one of the favorite options for Internet users for news consumption. This has aroused a series of sharp observations by those who see in these systems a series of vices that influence the construction of social imaginaries through communication.
A significant fraction of these critics have addressed Facebook, at a historical level at this point, for all the controversies in which this company has been involved in the last few years. For its part, the company presented a series of modifications to its main platform, patenting its efforts to remedy this situation and safeguard its reputation.
New facilities for ordering the home screen on Facebook
By default, the Facebook home screen presents a selection of content selected by the platform’s algorithm, based on the preference profile of each user, which the social network builds based on information collected from the activity within Facebook, in other corners of the web and based on factors such as location.
For many years, Facebook has allowed toggling the mechanisms that govern the selection of posts on the home screen. In addition to the aforementioned option, it is also possible to choose the most recent mode, which presents the publications of the profiles, groups and pages followed in chronological order, without using algorithmic filters.
During the last time, the platform gave preference to its own content selection mechanism, relegating the option to view recent publications to a more remote segment of its interface.
Now, with this new approach to the platform, it will be possible to easily switch between three tabs: the classic start, a section with the latest posts from the tracked accounts, and a new third section: Favorites.
Favorites list on Facebook
The possibility of seeing the publications of your favorite pages and profiles in the first places of the Facebook home screen already existed, thanks to the See First function, which was necessary to activate individually with each account selected for this purpose.
This purpose remains active within the platform, but now rethought under a new dynamic. Now, through a favorites section, it is possible to form a list of up to 30 friends and pages followed by your preference, to see their most recent publications in chronological order, through a dedicated section on the home screen.
Along with these options, presented in the Nick Clegg’s blog, vice president of global affairs at Facebook, the implementation of new facilities to filter who can comment on a post and the addition of a link titled Why am I seeing this? together with certain recommended publications, to show the dynamics behind the recommendation algorithms.
Although the features presented are not entirely new, the approach with which they were released shows us that sometimes, just rethinking certain aspects is enough to revitalize a service.
Now it remains to be seen if this proposal manages to obtain the expected acceptance of its users, considering the failing reputation of Facebook in the field of news dissemination and in the coverage of complex and sensitive events.
