Facebook is altering its newsfeed to try and connect more people and try and stimulate more meaningful conversations. Facebook is going to change the way the Newsfeed is ranked, with preference given to articles posted by friends, family and group members over those by publishers and brands. The newsfeed will also prioritize articles that elicit more comments, over those with more "likes" as Facebook believes that comments encourage more meaningful interactions among Facebook users.
I think this is a good start to using Facebook as a platform to encourage more meaningful relationships but I think one key issue that is not being addressed is connecting people with different views or opinions to have conversations about their differences and trying to understand each other's perspective. Most people are friends with others who have similar interests and political views and so the articles and opinions that are shared tend to reflect shared beliefs. What would be revolutionary would be to have people who have different beliefs and political opinions into discussing openly and rationally their differences.
The other issue that is not necessarily addressed by this change is the elimination of "fake news." Facebook is trying to minimize fake news, hate speech, etc, but inflammatory articles that are fake often elicit the most number of comments, and this new policy may inadvertently actually promote articles they are trying to suppress.
https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-adam-mosseri-on-why-youll-see-less-video-more-from-friends/
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