It’s your Facebook page, you get to choose your feeds (Photo: mathewingram.com)

Facebook decided to give more control to users over their News Feeds, so from now on, we’ll see what actually matters to us.

Facebook announced that from now on, they’re giving users more power over their own News Feeds, be it on their desktops or mobile apps. So, form now on, you won’t be forced to scroll through idiotic photos of friends’ friends you’ve met once at a party. You also won’t need to look at things that don’t really matter to you, things that you may have “Liked” at one point, but they are of no importance now. From now on, only you control your News Feed.

Take an example. You’ve been searching for a great gambling app and you know for a fact that this or that company develops awesome ones. You, of course, want to know immediately if a new gaming application comes out. So, Facebook gives you the opportunity to apply settings to your News Feed that will make sure you’ll receive all the updates. Similarly, if you want to see every single thing that your family uploads (except for your Auntie’s Mittens photos,) you’ll be able to tweak your settings accordingly. Just star the important people in your life in the News Feed settings, and viola! Their posts will come to the top of your Facebook Home pageand they’ll be the first thing you see.

Reprogramming algorithms for your personalized News Feed

In case you were wondering, there aren’t any elves in your computer that choose which posts to put first in your News Feed (I know, shocking…) But, there are complicated algorithms that bring out a statistic and that is what your Feed is based on. According to The New York Times, these calculations function on the fact that we tend to interact with some people more than with others and that we “like” things that we’re interested in. So, for instance, if I talk a lot with my best friend online and I tend to “like” pages, posts and ads about running, chances are, my News Feed is going to be made up of all things related to running and my BFF.

It’s all about what you like (Photo: Adsweek)

There is nothing wrong with this, of course. But if I “liked” something ages ago which is of no interest to me anymore and my News Feed is still littered with it… well, I won’t be a happy camper, that’s for sure. Similarly, if I have a newfound love for all things gambling, I would love to see more posts about interactive casino games. With this new feature, there will be no more boring posts and irritating photos; you can just scroll through the top of your News Feed to see what the important people (or organizations) are doing, and then just leave it at that. In other words, you’ll be able to “reprogram the algorithm,” as The New York Times states.

Facebook cares about what you care about

As Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s product management director told The New York Times, “It’s really for the things you care about most.We show you all of your friends, but we’ve ordered them by how much you like and comment on them in news feed.” Maybe the most important thing here is to choose what you really don’t want to see. With News Feed control, you will be able to give a whole list of people/associations/groups you want to “unfollow,” so you don’t have to go through all of those posts one by one. There is also another feature meant to personalize your Home Page: it will suggest groups that you might like according to your interests, and if you approve, they’ll be added. These settings can be changed by clicking on the “More” button at the bottom of the page.

So, if you seemingly adore social gaming and gambling, Facebook will throw some social gambling communities and companies your way to like as you please. Fun fact: according to The New York Times, people tend to have about 1,500 posts waiting for them each time they log on. Furthermore, they have such an appetite for information – any kind, really – that they don’t care if it’s about Mittens or new discoveries about World War One. It will be interesting to see how many people decide to reform their News Feed algorithms and how many just won’t bother. Nevertheless, this move is a great step towards better control over our Facebook pages.