Facebook Takes a Stand Against Clickbait
“5 things to—”
“What you need to know in order—”
“NEVER make this mistake—”
“You’ll never guess what—”
Scrolling through articles on social media these days can be a headache of clickbait. The common headline style is meant to misinform and keep readers in suspense with the goal of driving more visitors to their site.
In a fresh attempt at fighting back against bogus content, Facebook is implementing an algorithm change that will remove content that contains words or phrases often found in the annoying headlines. It will work the same way spam filters do — by categorizing words that relate to withholding or misleading information and preventing them from being shown on the newsfeed.
Facebook’s fight to maintain authentic communication on their newsfeed is no new venture. In 2014 they attempted to weed out clickbait, devaluing articles based on user behavior. They assumed if a visitor clicked an article, then immediately returned to Facebook, that the content was not valuable.
These are one of many algorithm tweaks supplementing Facebook’s aim to create a more enjoyable experience for their newsfeed users.
In a fresh attempt at fighting back against bogus content, Facebook is implementing an algorithm change that will remove content that contains words or phrases often found in the annoying headlines. It will work the same way spam filters do — by categorizing words that relate to withholding or misleading information and preventing them from being shown on the newsfeed.
Facebook’s fight to maintain authentic communication on their newsfeed is no new venture. In 2014 they attempted to weed out clickbait, devaluing articles based on user behavior. They assumed if a visitor clicked an article, then immediately returned to Facebook, that the content was not valuable.
These are one of many algorithm tweaks supplementing Facebook’s aim to create a more enjoyable experience for their newsfeed users.
About Mira Brody
Mira Brody is an editor, writer, and marketing expert with 12+ years of experience. She has worked as a local news reporter, a writer/editor, and as a leader in large-scale branding strategy. Mira worked at JTech as the staff writer and editor for internal and client projects from March 2015 to December 2019.
More articles by Mira: The Pastas of Programming | The Good, Bad and Ugly of Company Slogans | Note Taking Improves Workplace Skills