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Facebook Changing News Feed Again

Get ready for even more of your actions to be shared

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 4, 2011 7:24 AM CDT

(Newser) – Get ready for lots of groaning to show up on your Facebook news feed: The social network is once again looking to make major changes to what you see on its home page. Currently, Facebook filters the information that shows up in your news feed, so you don't see absolutely every action your friends take. The new news feed would be real-time and unfiltered, more similar to what users see on Twitter and Google+, reports the Wall Street Journal. A Facebook spokesperson confirms that the new feed is being tested and may be expanded to more users.

The move would satisfy third-party developers and marketers, who would like to see their messages and online campaigns shared by Facebook users in the news feed. (Picture lots of notifications about companies your friends "like" and Facebook games they've played.) Right now, "it's wasted potential," says the chief executive of a digital marketing firm. In addition to the updated news feed, the "like" button will likely be expanded to include gestures showing, for example, things you want to buy or places you want to visit.

View of the Facebook homepage taken in Washington,DC on January 3, 2011. (Getty Images)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 7 comments

Angelique

Aug 5, 2011 8:29 AM CDT

I don't know why you say people will be groaning. This is an improvement over the current filtering. Right now, if you have a new friend, or you have just "liked" a fairly quiet business, Facebook's software keeps their updates out of your newsfeed; it assumes you aren't interested because it hasn't seen any interaction between you. This is very frustrating for people who have just connected with an old friend, or who have "liked" a business because they want to receive notices about events. If you're getting too many useless notifications, e.g., "so-and-so is friends with so-and-so," you can use the lists feature to view updates by the people who really matter to you.

Raggle_Fraggle

Aug 4, 2011 2:17 PM CDT

The only thing more annoying on Facebook than the regular changes to the format is how many statuses people write complaining about them.

DontLikeYou

Aug 4, 2011 12:05 PM CDT

I have already begun limiting my facebook usage. I use it usually to message family about family events and that is it. I know people who have deleted their facebook acct entirely.

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Facebook Changing News Feed Again

Get ready for even more of your actions to be shared

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

social networking • Facebook • social networks • like button

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