Since February, Facebook has been trying to reduce political content in news feeds. The move is in response to the increasing users’ requests for fewer politics. First off, Facebook tested new labels to categorize pages. These categories include politicians and politics, for people to know the niche of a page. Then, Facebook enabled news feed control tools and a filter bar to customize what posts users can see and share. Today, Facebook expands the reduction of political posts on news feeds.
To decrease political content on news feeds, Facebook started experimenting with its temporary reduction in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and the US. The platform has done this by exploring different ranking algorithms on news feeds. As Facebook saw positive results on the experiment, it is now expanding temporary reduction of political content in Costa Rica, Ireland, Spain, and Sweden.
Facebook expands the reduction of political posts on news feeds as of 31 August 2021.
Implications for Marketers:
As Facebook expands the reduction of political posts on news feeds, it is promoting better engagement within the platform. This can be a positive change among marketers as relevant ads and campaigns will have more room on Facebook news feeds. Instead of political topics that often result in conflicts, users prefer to see relevant solutions to their common pain points.
Reference: https://www.axios.com/facebook-news-feeds-politics-b4a32c93-3dab-42cd-b761-039363ebdb7c.html
