Facebook: 10 New Changes That Matter
Over the summer, Facebook introduced a number of privacy settings, algorithm changes, buttons, and more. Here's an overview of all the new features and how they affect you.
Facebook kicked off the summer of 2014 with a controversy that affected nearly 700,000 users. For one week in early 2012, the social network conducted an experiment to determine whether it could change the emotional state of some users by filtering the posts that showed up in their news feeds. (Spoiler alert: It could.) Many experts called Facebook's actions unethical.
Three months later, Facebook finally apologized in a blog post that addressed the incident and outlined plans for more structured research.
"It's clear now that there are things we should have done differently," wrote Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer. "For example, we should have considered other non-experimental ways to do this research. The research would have also benefited from more extensive review by a wider and more senior group of people. Last, in releasing the study, we failed to communicate clearly why and how we did it."
But in between the uproar over Facebook's emotion experiment and its belated apology was a summer filled with launches, algorithm tweaks, and privacy changes.
Facebook launched a few buttons: a Buy button, which is in beta, and a Save button, which bookmarks content for later, for example. It also dropped the chat feature from its main app; started tracking users' shopping and browsing habits; and cracked down on click-bait, like-gating, and other news feed spam.
Here's a closer look at 10 of this summer's most important Facebook changes and what they mean for you. First up, Messenger:
Facebook makes Messenger mandatory
Facebook's main app ditched its chat feature in July, when the social network began prompting users to download Messenger. The app's confusing permissions, however, caused a firestorm of misconceptions: Users blamed Facebook for intent to eavesdrop on conversations and snoop on text messages. Neither of these were true, of course, but that didn't prevent users from rating Messenger poorly in the app stores.
If you want to send and receive messages on your mobile device, Facebook requires you to download Messenger, which also lets you place phone calls -- including international ones over WiFi -- and send pictures and video. If you choose not to, you can still send and receive messages on the desktop version of Facebook.
Facebook news feeds remain a pain point for many users, who often complain about low-quality posts from friends and Pages. This summer, Facebook began targeting these posts, which often encourage people to click to see more. These posts, which may read, "You'll never believe what happens next!" or "This will blow your mind," have grown more common as brands try to improve click rates and visibility in users' news feeds, the social network said.
Facebook also announced its war against "like-baiting" posts from people and pages. These posts ask readers to like, comment, or share the post in order to get more distribution. According to Facebook, these types of posts are 15% less relevant than other stories with a comparable number of likes, comments, and shares.
In June, Facebook announced it will use app and website data from your online browsing habits to provide you with more targeted ads. This means that, if you perform a Google search for a particular restaurant, you may see ads for that restaurant on Facebook.
Though Facebook isn't the only company to track your browsing habits for ad targeting -- Google does it, too -- you can opt out. On your desktop, visit the Digital Advertising Alliance. This website will scan for participating companies that have enabled customized ads for your browser. You can browse your results to learn more about their advertising and privacy practices, and you can opt out of this advertising for all or select ones.
To opt out on your mobile device, Facebook recommends that you use the controls that iOS and Android provide. This includes enabling private browsing, blocking cookies, and opting in to do-not-track.
More than 60% of adults in the US use at least two devices every day, and more than 40% start an activity on one device and finish it on another, according to a recent study. To capitalize on this trend, Facebook announced in August that it will track users' actions between devices and share with advertisers when an ad or promotion leads to a purchase.
This change does not pose any threat to users' privacy, said one expert, since the information it shares is neither personal nor personally identifiable -- but it will provide marketers with valuable marketing information to make more informed decisions.
Facebook's news feed algorithm has always prioritized what it thinks you'll find most relevant over showing you the newest content. That will change with two updates Facebook announced last month.
Soon, Facebook will prioritize posts based on whether the topic is trending and when -- instead of how many -- people like, share, or comment on it, the company said. For example, if a friend or a Page you are connected to posts something that others are talking about, Facebook will now show you that post near the top of your news feed.
Facebook will also crack down on older posts that continue to resurface in your news feed and prioritize recent likes, comments, and shares over the number of interactions a post gets.
Facebook launched a new tool in September that helps you review and control who you share content with. You can access Privacy Checkup by clicking the Privacy Shortcuts icon at the top of Facebook.
Privacy Checkup takes you through three steps to review your settings, including the audience of your status updates, the apps you have used Facebook to log into, and the privacy of key pieces of your profile, including your work information, education, and current city.
Despite a number of changes Facebook made to its news feed algorithm this summer, users are still flooded with posts -- up to 1,500, in some cases, according to the social network. In July, Facebook launched a long-awaited and useful feature: the Save button.
You'll notice the option in your news feed either as a button on the bottom of some posts or in the drop-down menu beside each post. On Pages, click the [...] button to access it. To find something you saved, navigate to the More tab on mobile and tap Saved.
You can find your saved items on the desktop version, too, by clicking the link on the left side of Facebook. Facebook will organize your items by category, and you can swipe right on each one to share it with friends, view the post, review it, like it, or move it to your archive list.
In July, Facebook started testing a new way for users to purchase products from ads: via a Buy button. This lets you purchase a product directly from a business without leaving Facebook.
When you click the Buy button on an ad, a screen pops up that displays a product description, shipping and return information, and a Check Out button. Once you click the Check Out button, Facebook requests your shipping address and credit card information -- which you can choose to store on Facebook to make future purchases easier -- to complete the transaction.
If you often watch videos on Facebook, you might see more of them pop up in your news feed. In June, Facebook said it would consider whether people watched a video and for how long to determine whether or not it appears in your news feed. Conversely, if you skip over videos without watching them, Facebook will show you fewer of them.
Most recently, Facebook started adding counters to videos that people and Pages post publicly, and it launched a new video metric dashboard for Facebook Page admins.
Following the launch of iOS 8, Facebook cleared the air: Though the language in one privacy setting changed, it doesn't track you any more than it already did.
In previous versions of Apple's iOS, Facebook users could choose from two settings for Location Services: On or Off. Apple changed these permission options in iOS 8, which means Facebook had to do the same for users who turned on Location Services for features like Nearby Friends.
The new Location Services choices include Always, While Using the App, or Never. For Facebook users who previously set Location Services to On, the new setting will read Always, since the other two options would render Nearby Friends useless.
Following the launch of iOS 8, Facebook cleared the air: Though the language in one privacy setting changed, it doesn't track you any more than it already did.
In previous versions of Apple's iOS, Facebook users could choose from two settings for Location Services: On or Off. Apple changed these permission options in iOS 8, which means Facebook had to do the same for users who turned on Location Services for features like Nearby Friends.
The new Location Services choices include Always, While Using the App, or Never. For Facebook users who previously set Location Services to On, the new setting will read Always, since the other two options would render Nearby Friends useless.
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