# Why is Facebook so insistent that I view top stories instead of recent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486 "2017-03-18T16:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/1 "2017-03-18T16:02:49Z")
Facebook has made lots of tweaks over the years, some of them sensible, some very annoying. One thing that’s never changed is the toggle to view either “most recent” or “top stories”. No matter how many times I select most recent, FB always reverts at some point to top stories. Why is this so important to them? Why continually override the user choice in this area? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/2 "2017-03-18T16:12:06Z")
I wasn’t even aware there was a choice any more! ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/3 "2017-03-18T16:27:43Z")
I agree. I want recent. For a while, I had to switch back to recent every time I got on. Now at least I just check once a week or so, and if it’s switched what it is showing, I switch back to recent. What surprises me, too, is when I haven’t been on top stories in a while, so I go on, and half of the stories never came through my feed at all. How much of a top story is it if it wasn’t important enough to show me when it was posted? But yes, I’ve wondered the same thing, too, why the push to top stories? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/4 "2017-03-18T17:59:15Z")
My guess is they can sell either more ads or more expensive ads reliably on the stories that are clicked on the most; no telling how popular the newer stories will be at first so buyers aren’t as interested in exposure that isn’t as guaranteed. Whatever FB does they do for money first and foremost. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/5 "2017-03-18T18:35:14Z")
Clicking off **Autoplay** on YouTube means instant reversion to ON when you re-open or open another. It’s Googles official way of saying ‘_Fuck you all: we own you — and your choices mean nothing_’. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/6 "2017-03-18T18:43:56Z")
If you don’t want Facebook to do this, you can use something like [facebook purity](http://www.fbpurity.com/) to reorder your feed. I’ve been using it for years now. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/7 "2017-03-18T18:52:08Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Clicking off **Autoplay** on YouTube means instant reversion to ON when you re-open or open another. > It’s Googles official way of saying ‘_Fuck you all: we own you — and your choices mean nothing_’. Or maybe Google made the decision because it ensures more ad views and thus generates more revenue? Unless you’re paying youtube via subscription (i.e., youtube red), you’re not Google’s customer – the advertisers paying the bills are. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/8 "2017-03-18T19:10:54Z")
How does it ensure more ad views ? If something starts up automatically I reactively turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/9 "2017-03-18T19:34:16Z")
I just switched mine to “most recent” and it showed me about 6 posts and informed me that if I wanted to see more I need more friends. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/10 "2017-03-18T21:35:35Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > How does it ensure more ad views ? If something starts up automatically I reactively turn it off. Your personal preference doesn’t extend to everyone else; lots of people (myself included) actually like the autoplay feature. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/11 "2017-03-18T21:50:20Z")
You need [http://socialfixer.com/](http://socialfixer.com/) When coupled with various ad buster privacy apps, it’s a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/12 "2017-03-18T21:53:45Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > Your personal preference doesn’t extend to everyone else; lots of people (myself included) actually like the autoplay feature. That has nothing in the world to do with the fact they offer a preference switch and then don’t honour it. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/13 "2017-03-18T22:02:45Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > That has nothing in the world to do with the fact they offer a preference switch and then don’t honour it. The point is that Google is in the business of selling ads. It is therefore in their interest to make sure people view as many videos as possible. If the autoplay feature means people (yourself excluded) are exposed to more videos, then they are going to do that. Like i said, you’re not Google’s client because you’re not the one paying their bills; they dont owe you anything. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/14 "2017-03-19T02:00:54Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Clicking off **Autoplay** on YouTube means instant reversion to ON when you re-open or open another. > It’s Googles official way of saying ‘_Fuck you all: we own you — and your choices mean nothing_’. When Youtube introduced Autoplay I immediately set it OFF and it’s remained that way ever since. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/15 "2017-03-19T12:56:08Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > When Youtube introduced Autoplay I immediately set it OFF and it’s remained that way ever since. If you are logged-in it remembers your preference. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/16 "2017-03-19T14:15:41Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > If you are logged-in it remembers your preference. More to the point - only if you are logged in can it remember your preference. (I have never had any problem with it reverting settings.) As to Facebook. It has always puzzled me why they insist on presenting a really objectionable default view of everything. The usual answer is to install FB Purity. For a while they seemed to spend time deliberately making things hard for FB Purity, but they gave up on that a while ago, and I suspect they realised that 1. If they didn’t allow those that wanted it to install it, they would lose them as users, and 2. They probably mine the settings that people use and use that data to inform their understanding of preferences. So it acts as a bit of a laboratory for them. But FB Purity will force the most recent setting, and IMHO is the only thing that makes FB tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/17 "2017-03-20T15:01:24Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > More to the point - only if you are logged in can it remember your preference. (I have never had any problem with it reverting settings.) Youtube (and thence Google) remembers a lot of things for me, not just the autoplay setting. Which channels I’ve subscribed to, what videos I’ve watched, whether I’ve finished watching a particular video and, if I haven’t, where in the video I’ve stopped watching. All of this is contingent, of course, on being logged in. ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/18 "2017-03-20T16:57:21Z")
The first rule for using fakebook is _ **Don’t do it!** _ You are fakebook’s _ **product** _, worth nothing to fakebook advertisers more than your clicks, “views”, and availability to their advertising. If you don’t mind being bought for nothing (a “free account”) and sold at a price you can’t know, please enjoy the delusions. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/19 "2017-03-20T17:08:38Z")
I know what the price _to me_ of the sale is: zero. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486/20 "2017-03-20T17:28:38Z")
If you don’t want to mess with FB Purity, a quick fix is to include the “most recent” command in your Facebook bookmark: [Facebook - log in or sign up](https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr). This doesn’t help if you navigate elsewhere in the site and return to FB home, but at least the order starts out correct. > [@CharmaChameleon](#): > > The first rule for using fakebook is _ **Don’t do it!** _ > > You are fakebook’s _ **product** _, worth nothing to fakebook advertisers more than your clicks, “views”, and availability to their advertising. > > If you don’t mind being bought for nothing (a “free account”) and sold at a price you can’t know, please enjoy the delusions. I believe current internet rules require at least one reference to “sheeple” for posts like this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-facebook-so-insistent-that-i-view-top-stories-instead-of-recent/782486.md?page=2)