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How Recent Facebook Changes Will Affect Your News Feed

Facebook's News Feed algorithms — the secret ingredients that determine what you see in your News Feed — are drastically changing, and it may have a profound affect on the stories you consume through the social media juggernaut.

For those worried they may soon be missing out on the news they depend on from their favorite Facebook pages (like CBS Chicago's), we've provided instructions below to ensure you continue to see the same posts you already like.

Instructions

 
Desktop

On the Facebook Page you'd like to continue seeing posts from, hover over "Liked." Under "In Your News Feed," click "See First."

FacebookPC

Mobile

FacebookMobileOn the Facebook Page you'd like to continue seeing posts from, click "Following." Of the three options, pick "See First."

That should ensure the Page's posts show up in your Facebook News Feed on a regular basis. You can also go to "Notifications" on a Facebook page you've Liked and ensure you'll be alerted to various post types coming from that source.

Why is Facebook changing its algorithm?

"The goal of News Feed is to show people the stories that are most relevant to them," Facebook wrote in a press release at the end of June.

According to Facebook, the news feed is now faced with a challenge: too much information for individuals to consume. As you already know, the posts inside an individual's news feed aren't in order of when they're posted. Instead, they appear in an almost chaotic sequence, but there's order to that sequence. Facebook algorithyms track what you like and who you interact with in numerous ways, determining what content you should and shouldn't be seeing in your News Feed. While Facebook is constantly making little changes to this algorithms to better serve users, they are making a drastic alteration to their algorithm that may change the fundamental ways an individual's News Feed appears.

The changes to the algorithm will bring the focus back to a user's friends and family, taking attention away from news posted by Facebook pages. Facebook still intends to keep you informed, but its new algorithms will attempt to do so through the stories your friends share.

This means you'll likely see fewer stories from the direct sources. Instead of reading local news from your local news station's posts, you'll have to depend on your friends to be posting those stories from that station.

For some, this will inevitably prove useful. If your primary reason for being on Facebook is to connect with the people that you know, this might enhance your experience. For others, this might diminish the Facebook experience. For those looking for up-to-date news straight from the source, the News Feed might become less useful.

If you fear the Facebook News Feed changes might come between you and the news you receive from CBS Chicago, follow the instructions above to ensure you continue to see CBS Chicago's Facebook posts.

If you haven't liked CBS Chicago on Facebook yet, you can do so here. You can Follow CBS Chicago on Twitter here.

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