Trying to figure out the mysteries of the Facebook Newsfeed is not only impossible, but it’s a moving target that can change as soon as you might think you’re getting close. That target has moved again as Facebook recently announced changes to the Newsfeed that favor the amount of time a user spends on a given post.
While liking or commenting on a post is one indication that the platform uses to decide how the News Feed appears, it’s not a full picture of what the user wants. People don’t typically like or comment on everything they read so moving forward Facebook will prioritize posts based on how long users spent on similar posts from the author or publisher in the past. To inform these tweaks, Facebook will rely on data it’s been collecting on how long people spend on Instant Articles or how long posts were viewed online or in the app.
In another change that will effect publishers more than businesses, Facebook is reducing how often people see several posts in a row from the same source within the coming weeks.
