By — Corinne Segal Corinne Segal Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/facebook-continues-battle-click-bait-stories Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Facebook continues to battle click-bait World Aug 25, 2014 4:37 PM EDT Facebook announced in a blog post Monday that it would change its algorithm to reduce the amount of click-bait in the News Feed, and improve the experience of users. Facebook defined “click-bait” as a link with a headline that prompts people to click without delivering information on what follows the link. According to the blog, click-bait links have previously been prominent in News Feed because they receive a lot of clicks from users. But 80 percent of respondents to a user survey said they preferred to see posts that help them decide whether they want to see a full article. Users navigate away from “click-bait” articles shortly after clicking, showing that they do not care about the content, the post said. Facebook will measure how much time people spend on articles they click and feature articles that receive more time from users. It will also feature more articles that people are sharing and discussing with their friends. Facebook drives more social traffic than any other network, and this is not the first time it has announced an algorithm change in an effort to weed out low-quality content. In December 2013, Facebook announced it would begin to feature “high quality articles about current events” over viral memes. Traffic to viral site Upworthy dropped by 46 percent within two months after the change. By — Corinne Segal Corinne Segal Corinne is the Senior Multimedia Web Editor for NewsHour Weekend. She serves on the advisory board for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. @cesegal
Facebook announced in a blog post Monday that it would change its algorithm to reduce the amount of click-bait in the News Feed, and improve the experience of users. Facebook defined “click-bait” as a link with a headline that prompts people to click without delivering information on what follows the link. According to the blog, click-bait links have previously been prominent in News Feed because they receive a lot of clicks from users. But 80 percent of respondents to a user survey said they preferred to see posts that help them decide whether they want to see a full article. Users navigate away from “click-bait” articles shortly after clicking, showing that they do not care about the content, the post said. Facebook will measure how much time people spend on articles they click and feature articles that receive more time from users. It will also feature more articles that people are sharing and discussing with their friends. Facebook drives more social traffic than any other network, and this is not the first time it has announced an algorithm change in an effort to weed out low-quality content. In December 2013, Facebook announced it would begin to feature “high quality articles about current events” over viral memes. Traffic to viral site Upworthy dropped by 46 percent within two months after the change.