Everyone scrolls down the News Feed, both on the computer and mobile, glancing at which posts seem interesting. We may not like or comment on them, but we pause on certain ones to read comments, soak in the beauty of a photo, read a hilarious meme, or watch a short video. Before Facebook would only gauge if a user engaged with the post with a like, comment, share or click. Now the time spent viewing a post will count as engagement and help factor in whether that post and the person or page it came from is relevant to you.
“It’s not as simple as just measuring the number of seconds you spend on each story,” wrote Facebook software engineer Ansha Yu in a company blog posted on June 12th, 2015.” Some people may spend 10 seconds on a story because they enjoy it while others may spend 10 seconds on a story because they have a slow internet connection.”
For example, let's say you scroll through the News Feed and stop on photos of beautiful Caribbean islands (like I do). Facebook will then begin to recognize that this type of content is interesting to you and it will being showing you posts from these pages more often. The change makes sense and helps Facebook users connect with content that matters to them.
This is latest in a series of News Feed updates that Facebook has recently made to increase relevant content to its users. In April, they adjusted the News Feed to emphasize posts from friends instead of posts from pages. Then later that same month they tweaked the algorithm again so that it downplays posts letting you know a friend liked or commented on a something.
The world’s largest social network is constantly working to serve both its users with relevant content and its advertisers with a return on investment. It’s a delicate dance to appease both groups, and that’s why Facebook is consistently testing new News Feed adjustments. For more information on putting social media to work for your business, download our free Social Media for Business ebook.