Facebook has been used as a model for all other social media sites for years now. Every site is always being compared to Facebook. Facebook is crazy successful. Sometimes, it’s clear why it has been so successful, other times it’s not so clear. This is one of those not-so clear times.
Facebook started as a way to people to communicate with their friends, coworkers, peers, etc. In its early days, users saw only what their friends were doing. Slowly, Facebook added more and more ads, more and more content, and now, it seems like users no longer have a real say in what posts they are being shown. It’s not uncommon for me to see the same viral post upwards of five times per day. It’s annoying. Now, Facebook is FINALLY letting users tell them what they want in their newsfeed. Facebook asks users to choose between 2 viral stories. After, Facebook guesses which other viral stories would interest the user to make their experience more relevant.
I’m just surprised it took Facebook this long to make this change.
