Facebook has announced it will be adjusting its algorithms to discourage “click-baiting headlines”, so as to enhance their users’ experience.
According to Facebook, “click-baiting” happens when “a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see.” Those types of links are currently rewarded by Facebook’s algorithm precisely because they generate numerous “clicks” but the social media giant has decided to change this.
The move follows a user feedback survey where 80 per cent of people “preferred headlines that helped them decide if they wanted to read the full article before they had to click through”.
“Over time, stories with “click-bait” headlines can drown out content from friends and pages that people really care about,” making Facebook less useful, the announcement added. The company will determine what kind of headline are classified as click bait, by how soon a user returns to Facebook after clicking on a link in their feed.
Facebook said it will also start prioritising the way links are shared in posts, giving preference to posts that are in “link format”, which displaying additional information such as the beginning of the article, over those which are shared in captions of status updates.
The changes come after Twitter recently changed its definition of a “timeline” to include tweets from accounts users don’t follow, based on what Twitter determines users will find “relevant and interesting”.
