Facebook has noted that most users don’t want political content to flood their news feed. These types of content have led to a lot of controversies and discourse. Others find them vehemently offensive. It also defeats the platform’s goal to create connections within the community. As such, Facebook moves to reduce political content on news feeds.
Facebook’s 1st step is a temporary reduction of political content in the new feed among users in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and the US. This is by exploring different ways to rank them less in the news feed algorithms. Such a test doesn’t target to remove political content. Like favorites and topic exclusions, the test users interested in such type of content can still find them on the platform. Facebook notes that COVID-19 information from CDC and WHO are not included in the test. The same goes for local, national, and regional government and health agencies.
Facebook moves to reduce political content on news feeds as of 10 February 2021.
Implications for Marketers:
Facebook’s move to reduce political content on news feed is a positive approach to weed out discourses within the platform. For marketers, this means more room for ads and campaigns. By focusing on entertaining and light-hearted posts, brands can better engage their target audience without distractions from political content.
Reference: https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/reducing-political-content-in-news-feed/
