Who should be most worried?

The announced changes will primarily affect the following types of posts:

• Posts that solicit reactions
• Posts that ask users to tag friends (e.g., „Tag Tom to make him eat a whole pizza”)
• Posts that encourage shares (e.g., „Share if you agree”)
• Posts that solicit comments (usually found in competitions)
  
  

  

Why are these changes happening, and what might they bring?

As stated, the changes will not spare anyone—both big and small players will feel their impact. It’s likely that this new feed system not only aims to improve the user experience on Facebook but also encourages advertisers to invest more money. As usual, small businesses will likely be the ones to suffer the most.

From the user’s perspective (rather than as a Social Media Ninja), my Facebook feed has recently felt like a dump, filled with posts like “Tom needs to eat the pizza.” From this viewpoint, the algorithm changes should bring some relief to all users. These adjustments will also force greater creativity in managing fan pages—people will need to work hard to get anything from organic reach (if it will still be possible). Moreover, users will have to get used to promoting content through paid options, which means that many might start looking for new ways to reach their audience.

What can I do as a user?

As a bonus for those who are unsure how to deal with the changes from a user perspective, here are two recommendations:

1. Block content from some friends. We all have friends whose posts don’t necessarily interest us. Whether it’s someone’s holiday photos, kids, or new pets, you can block (or temporarily mute) any user’s posts without them being notified.

2. Set posts from your favorite pages to show first. We all follow pages that interest us for different reasons. If you still want to see all updates from your favorites, just go to the Facebook page and select „See First.”
   
   

Whether we like Facebook’s changes or not, we have no say in the matter. After all, Facebook is a private platform, and we’re just players in a game where we must accept the rules.