Facebook Wants To Clean Up The Clickbait
G. Clay Whittaker
at 09:56 AM Aug 8 2016
Mark Zuckerberg
F8 2016

Facebook is trying to get rid of more of those awful "you won't believe what happened" headlines on your newsfeed. You know, the ones your annoying relatives seem to enjoy posting?

The announcement doesn't actually indicate the first attempt Facebook has tried to kill clickbait. The first step in that process was a previous algorithmic change that devalued (and therefore showed fewer) stories that lead quickly back to the newsfeed. In other words, links you click, regret clicking, and leave behind to go back to Facebook get penalized.

Now Facebook, deepening its commitment, is also targeting language in posts similar to the ones that people regret clicking on. Which means that, if this works right, you'll see fewer ambiguous and misleading headlines promising unbelievable results from whatever situation they're schilling.

"Our system identifies posts that are clickbait and which web domains and Pages these posts come from. Links posted from or shared from Pages or domains that consistently post clickbait headlines will appear lower in News Feed."

This is going to make certain sites a lot less prominent in your newsfeed—even if mom and dad still click and share them every time.

[Facebook]

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