Notice older stories popping up on your news feed? Or, seeing more posts from one friend more than another? It's all a part of Facebook's top-secret ranking system.
August 6, 2013 11:09 AM PDT
Facebook talks more about the news feed "machine."
(Credit: Donna Tam/CNET)
Facebook did a deep dive into its its news feed ranking algorithmn on Tuesday, expounding on why it moves up old stories on your needs feed and how it picks which stories it thinks you want to see.
Lars Backstrom, the engineering manager in charge of news feed ranking, explained how Facebook sorts through the "tens of thousands" of potential posts users put on Facebook each day. While there is a median of 1,500 potential stories that a user can see daily, Facebook inserts about 300 based on an algorithm that guesses how interested you will be in a post by factoring users reactions to previous posts and the users. Each post is given a scored and placed depending on that score.
"Its a very personalized thing, it depends on your relationship to your person, what things you've liked in the past," Backstrom said, echoing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's often mentioned "personalized newspaper" comparison.
One way Facebook has done this is a method called "story bumping," which moves up older stories that you might not have seen because it was "below the fold," of your news feed.
"It's really hard for users to get back to old things, you have to scroll back to things you've already seen," Backstrom said.
In explaining these changes, Facebook hopes to shed some light on why it makes the changes it does, despite controversial reactions from the public and business in the past. The engineering team meets each week to discuss how they can improve news feed, Backstrom said. With the bumping stories method, it took engineers three months to build the infrastructure to support it.
Another change, called "last actor," to the algorithm factors in your last 50 interactions with each of your friends. Both these features have already launched. Facebook is actively bumping stories on the Web, but is still working on making it live on mobile. The company is using the last actor method on both Web and mobile.
Backstrom also explained another method, that didn't pan out. He said the company tested posting stories from one user chronologically despite the sore of each post. Engineering has plans to go back to the drawing board on the feture because it resulted in less engagement among users, according to Backstrom.
The company held a similar press event in November after businesses started accusing Facebook of changing its algorithm to make less users see their pages. At the time, Facebook said it did do a major tweak in September, but the new algorithm is simply more accurate and factors in how likely a user will not like a post. Facebook Product Manager Will Cathcart said some brands saw even more engagement with users.
Facebook is constantly tweaking its algorithm because the News Feed is the main feature of its network, not to mention the way it makes advertising dollars. The company announced a major redesign of the product in March, promising a bigger, bolder news feed.
[h=3]Related stories[/h]
News feed ads did well in Facebook's last quarter, with particular flourish for mobile. To ensure readers don't see relevant ads or content -- which makes for unhappy customers and no ad clicks -- the company lets users hide posts and ads. Facebook recently started polling some users about why they hide certain news feed items.
August 6, 2013 11:09 AM PDT
(Credit: Donna Tam/CNET)
Facebook did a deep dive into its its news feed ranking algorithmn on Tuesday, expounding on why it moves up old stories on your needs feed and how it picks which stories it thinks you want to see.
Lars Backstrom, the engineering manager in charge of news feed ranking, explained how Facebook sorts through the "tens of thousands" of potential posts users put on Facebook each day. While there is a median of 1,500 potential stories that a user can see daily, Facebook inserts about 300 based on an algorithm that guesses how interested you will be in a post by factoring users reactions to previous posts and the users. Each post is given a scored and placed depending on that score.
"Its a very personalized thing, it depends on your relationship to your person, what things you've liked in the past," Backstrom said, echoing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's often mentioned "personalized newspaper" comparison.
One way Facebook has done this is a method called "story bumping," which moves up older stories that you might not have seen because it was "below the fold," of your news feed.
"It's really hard for users to get back to old things, you have to scroll back to things you've already seen," Backstrom said.
In explaining these changes, Facebook hopes to shed some light on why it makes the changes it does, despite controversial reactions from the public and business in the past. The engineering team meets each week to discuss how they can improve news feed, Backstrom said. With the bumping stories method, it took engineers three months to build the infrastructure to support it.
Another change, called "last actor," to the algorithm factors in your last 50 interactions with each of your friends. Both these features have already launched. Facebook is actively bumping stories on the Web, but is still working on making it live on mobile. The company is using the last actor method on both Web and mobile.
Backstrom also explained another method, that didn't pan out. He said the company tested posting stories from one user chronologically despite the sore of each post. Engineering has plans to go back to the drawing board on the feture because it resulted in less engagement among users, according to Backstrom.
The company held a similar press event in November after businesses started accusing Facebook of changing its algorithm to make less users see their pages. At the time, Facebook said it did do a major tweak in September, but the new algorithm is simply more accurate and factors in how likely a user will not like a post. Facebook Product Manager Will Cathcart said some brands saw even more engagement with users.
Facebook is constantly tweaking its algorithm because the News Feed is the main feature of its network, not to mention the way it makes advertising dollars. The company announced a major redesign of the product in March, promising a bigger, bolder news feed.
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News feed ads did well in Facebook's last quarter, with particular flourish for mobile. To ensure readers don't see relevant ads or content -- which makes for unhappy customers and no ad clicks -- the company lets users hide posts and ads. Facebook recently started polling some users about why they hide certain news feed items.