You probably wonder if your friends have unfriended you because you cannot see their posts on your newsfeed anymore. But worry not; all is well. Facebook News Feed can be challenging to understand because the algorithm keeps changing. But how does this algorithm work?
Usually, the algorithm selects the pages and people you view the most from your news feed. The algorithm controls what you see by bringing up your history searches to your news feed. So before you continue feeling sad that you have no more connection with your friends, you need to adjust a few things.
But first;
What Is Facebook News Feed?
Facebook News Feed is like a table with all types of meals on for people to feast. This is the principal means for people to access Facebook, which constantly updates the feed of friends’ activity and third-party posts. Do you want to know what’s new? Check out your Facebook News Feed!
What Are The Factors Influencing What You See?
Because the algorithm is in charge here, how does it choose what to appear and what order? First, the algorithm assigns a personalized relevancy score different to each one who views it as it puts the most relevant stories on top for every story posted. For it to reach that decision of assigning relevancy score, the algorithm receives lots of mixed signals.
If you are not seeing all the posts from your friends, the reasons may be one of the below factors.
Read on.
Who Posted?
The higher the number of times you have been interacting with a specific person, the more Facebook thinks you need to see their future posts. Interaction doesn’t necessarily mean talking to them in their inboxes, but rather simply liking, commenting, viewing their profile, page, and even stopping to read their posts.
Well, this should answer your worries on why you don’t see posts from people you have not interacted with for years.
How Did Other People Engage With The Post?
When a post receives more likes, comments, and any other form of engagement, Facebook is likely to show you. It is usual for people and pages to post boring content that attracts no interaction; hence Facebook pushes them to obscurity. However, if many people interact immediately, a post is out, Facebook notices it’s exciting and worth showing.
So, how fun are you, your friends, and pages to trigger massive interaction?
What Is The Type Of Post?
The more you like viewing specific posts, pages, links, events, and even content from other apps, Facebook will pick that as your line of interest and show you more. People like to engage in different Facebook content; hence, they match people to what they like seeing. That’s why you will never see something you have never looked up showing on your news feed.
When Was It Posted?
You will always catch new stories on your news feed. However, Facebook will sense when you last checked in to view your news feed and bring the older and good posts above first before getting to the most recent. In other words, it tries to keep you updated on what good you missed when you were away.
Try checking in after every minute or few hours, and Facebook will bring you the most recent updates. But, go off for a week and come back to the hot news you missed like seven days ago.
How Many People Posted The Same Thing?
Facebook forms brilliant accumulations of posts when many friends or Pages post the same thing. If you have many friends posting the same story or video, Facebook picks that as a weighty matter and displays a “Dan Smith and 20 other friends shared…” story on the top of the News Feed.
Latest Facebook Products
When Facebook launches a new product, for instance, live video or slideshows, the company will want to test its significance by knowing how much users want to interact with it. Therefore, it may fill up your news feed with too many or too few stories until it reaches its target of learning the suitable level of visibility.
That explains why the first thing you see when you check-in is Facebook posts and not your friends or favorite pages.
Controlling Your News Feed
Even though algorithms decide on what you see, you have the power to show the algorithms what to bring to your attention every time you log in.
Therefore, Facebook provides you with implicit and explicit methods to teach the News Feed what you want to view.
Implicit signals originate from the usual behavior on Facebook. This means that the more you Like posts from your friends or pages on specific topics, you will be seeing more of them. So, if you have been searching for some dresses on Facebook’s cloth stores for the past week, then your news feed will be popping up with the same that you need to see more.
Therefore, it would be best if you only liked the things you like and not pity or just passing by more often. This way, you won’t be wondering how you can change what you see on your news feed.
Conversely, the explicit method is for informing Facebook not to show you the stories you don’t want to see. Each story that shows up on your newsfeed has a drop-down arrow at the top right corner that allows you to;
- Hide a post. This allows you to stop seeing it but see few similar stories.
- Unfollow the author. It lets you stop seeing anything they post
- Save the story for later. This informs Facebook of your interest to show you more similar posts.
- Turn on notifications. It alerts you of future posts by the author or comments made on the particular post, even if it’s a year later.
There’s also a See First option available in the News Feed settings. This lets you pick people or Pages whose posts you always want to see at the top of your News Feed, which can help you stay informed about a loved one, best friend, favorite brand, or your own business.
How to See All Posts on Facebook
When you are not happy with your news feed, you want to change it. Well, it’s a social platform that should allow you to be happy and enjoy interacting with friends. But how can you interact if Facebook decides not to show you all posts? Here’s how to edit the news feed preference on mobile.
Tap on the three lines on the right corner of the Facebook app;
- Scroll down to Settings & Privacy and Tap Settings.
- Scroll down more to News Feed Settings.
- Tap on News Feed Preferences.
The first step would be to prioritize who you want to see first in your news feed. Herein, you will choose your favorite friends or pages that should always appear first on your feed. Remember, you have a limit of 30 friends or pages to see first, and there’s no ranking on how you select. Click ‘Done.’
Next, you need to unfollow people, pages, and even groups you don’t want to see on your feed. Click the ‘ALL’ button if you want to select only one category. If not, go on scrolling down as you select on what or who to unfollow. Worry not; they will not know you unfollowed them. As always, click ‘Done’ to save settings.
The other step is to reconnect with the people, pages, and groups you unfollowed. This is not a must if you still don’t see a reason to skip hence and proceed. However, if someone or page or group you want to see again on your feed, you can always tick them back.
Even better, you can click on your friends’ profiles to ‘get notifications when they post something always.
To summarise on how to see all posts on Facebook;
- Interact more with people, pages ad groups you want to see on your feed
- Go to News Feeds Preferences and click on ‘most recent.’
- Select on ‘who to see first in the News Feed Preferences
- Go on and add pages, groups, and apps to the favorites list on Facebook.
How to Get Your Facebook Posts Seen By More People
Do you wonder why your posts don’t attract more or any interaction? This can start to be a bother, especially if you see your friends’ posts getting many comments, likes, and shares, and maybe yours are even better. But do not fret.
There are ways to get your friends and more people to see your posts.
Read on.
Sell or Market Your Post
Usually, when someone posts a picture plainly without commenting on it, it does not attract any interaction. While this may appear rude on Facebook, it is pretty reasonable. Posting a link or picture with no caption or comment makes it so plain for people to spend their time reacting to. People want to see a link or picture with the ‘thoughts’ of the poster to engage by commenting or simply Liking.
So, to sell your post, you need to trigger a response from your friends. Write a striking caption in context to what you are posting and give people a reason to click on the article’s link or blog you are sharing. Still, if it’s a picture, tell people where you took it and the activity that led to the picture. The idea here is to give more information about your post to attract interaction.
Tag People
Usually, it is nice to tag a friend who is in the picture with you.
Well, despite that, posting your picture without tagging your friend will only open the picture to your friends only. However, tagging your friend will make their friends also see and interact with the photo as well.
Change the Privacy Setting To Expand Your Viewership
When your privacy setting is strictly set on ‘Friends,’ then only your friends can see what you post and the friends of those you tag on your pictures. Well, this is not a bad thing, especially if you are keen on most of the things you share.
However, this will not work well if you have an article/blog that you want a large viewership. In this case, consider changing your privacy settings to ‘Public. This will allow everyone, even those not on Facebook, to see your blog.
So how do you do this?
Go to the status bar window and click on ‘Friends,’ and a drop-down will appear. After that, you can change the setting to the audience you want to have. But remember that the new settings will become the default settings for all your posts henceforth. However, if you want to change, you can always do that simply by following the same procedure. Otherwise, you can read more on Facebook Privacy Settings.
Like Each Comment on Your Post
The more ‘edges’ your post has, the more it is likely to rank higher. Therefore, apart from the comments, it is receiving, it would be best to add more edge by liking each comment from people on your post.
This will make your post be among the top in your friends’ feeds, attracting more people to see it. This is more like casting a vote for your post on the people’s comments on it.
Comment on Your Posts
Undeniably, comments rank higher than simple Likes in Facebook’s algorithm. Therefore, it would be best to respond to comments from friends with your comments. This way, it creates a dialogue or discussion on the particular post. Such a method will make your post more engaging, and Facebook will repay you with more visibility.
Conclusion
Facebook should be fun, hence the reason for being a social platform. This also goes to businesses, not just people, because interacting with people to win clients’ needs to be fun on social platforms. As the leading social medial platform globally, Facebook has a system that can limit your viewership hence dim your expectations. However, with a proper understanding of algorithm and settings rules, you will get your way back up in no time. Therefore, if you notice something you don’t like, find out how to solve it immediately and continue enjoying your Facebook stay.
