You won't believe how Facebook is combating click-bait

Facebook News Feed

All jokes aside, Facebook is working to bring a much more relevant News Feed to your Timeline, hopefully without the click-bait.

Previously, Facebook's algorithm pushed posts to the top of your News Feed that you were more likely to interact with by either commenting, liking or sharing, and unfortunately, this also included click-bait type posts.

Starting today, however, Facebook says based on a new algorithm, you will now be seeing stories that you would interact with, as well as those you wouldn't necessarily interact with, but would want to see at the top of your News Feed anyway.

Essentially, the social media giant is hoping this new algorithm will encourage Page owners to "post things that your audience finds meaningful," instead of click-bait headlines.

What you want to see

Facebook began targeting click-bait headlines back in 2014 by looking at how long a user kept a link open before returning back to their News Feed and reducing their visibility based on that.

This time, the change in algorithm of which stories get more visibility and top News Feed billing comes from the social media giant asking its Feed Quality Panel and surveying tens of thousands of users around the world to rate posts on their News Feed every day.

Questions ranged from choosing which types of stories they'd prefer seeing and if a post seems more like an ad.

"We saw through our research that people reported having a better News Feed experience when the stories they see at the top are stories they are both likely to rate highly if asked and likely to engage with," Facebook said in a blog post.

Facebook explains that stories based on these factors will now rank higher, while some Pages may see a decline in traffic based on the stories they post and if the rate at which these "stories are clicked on does not match how much people report wanting to see those stories near the top of their News Feed."