I am really making an effort to like Facebook in spite of the privacy issues that have gotten so much publicity lately. But when I look on my News Feeds sometimes posts from people that are 10 hours old with comments that are 9 hour old are shown higher up than other posts that are a few minutes old.
How does Facebook sort the posts on in news feed? Is there any rhyme or reason?
Up at the top where it says NEWS FEED, over to the right it says “Top News” and “Most Recent” when everything gets all out of order it changed itself to Top News. Click on Most Recent and it’ll all go back the way you want it. The two options where always there, but with the latest update it changes itself to Top News for some unknown reason. For me, it’s always like that first thing in the morning.
Also, I have no idea what it considers “Top News.” If there was some really active status update from a friend, I could understand, but something with no replies from 21 hours ago isn’t really “Top News.” I think there’s an option somewhere to change the criteria, but I don’t really feel like looking for it.
It seems like “Top News” tries to balance out people who don’t post much with persistent updaters. So something from someone who posts maybe once a week may be listed higher than something from someone who posts 2-3 times a day, regardless of when it was actually posted. That’s just my general observation, though. I haven’t actually run any numbers or anything.
No. None. It’s utterly baffling and incomprehensible, and I say this as a PhD candidate at an Ivy League university. The other posts explain how it’s supposed to work, theoretically, but those rules are violated nearly constantly. Facebook has this bizarre dedication to making things worse and less user-friendly with each “update”.
If you’re using Facebook and are concerned about privacy issues, make sure you shut off the ability of other websites getting your data… It’s at Account -> Privacy Settings -> Applications and Websites. Make sure all settings under
“Info accessible through your friends” and “Instant personalization” are off. And consider shutting off “Public Search”, a function that allows non-Facebook users to read any information you have opened up to Everybody in the other Privacy settings.
Also, do not use the recommended settings at all. Use custom, and only reveal to everyone what you think they need to know to know if you are a friend so they can add you.
As for your specific problem: Facebook’s stuff is always buggy. They’ll “fix” it eventually, but then you’ll have to tweak your privacy settings again, since they’ll change the format.
NETA: I just figured out that not everyone has the new privacy settings. If my directions don’t seem to apply, use this nice application. It’s been vetted, and doesn’t compromise your privacy. You may have to do some things manually, but it will make it easier.
There really is no rhyme or reason, but it tends to put posts from people whose profiles you view more often/you post on more often/you may actually consider more of a “friend” than others closer to the top.