In an effort to provide users a better experience when checking their accounts, Facebook has implemented a new rule that could not only generate additional income for the site, but also allow its members to get updates from people or groups they actually care about.
A spokesperson from Facebook Inc. disclosed that the purpose of the News Feeds in their site is to give users the option to screen the posts they really want to be updated about. A survey seeking data with regard the posts the Facebooks users wanted to see in their News Feeds revealed that they were only interested to receive updates from their friends and family, as well as from the Pages they themselves subscribed to. These members feel that promotional content that keep appearing in their News Feeds are bothersome.
Due to the advent of online advertising in social media sites, it has become a normal occurrence for a Facebook user's News Feed to be filled with posts regarding services and products of different companies. The sheer number of these ads pushed the site's users to protest against the information overload that causes their News Feeds to look cluttered and chaotic. In light of these complaints, Facebook has developed a system for its users to be granted a more organized and controllable system with respect to the posts appearing in their News Feeds.
In order to curb the overabundance of these bothersome posts, Facebook imposed guidelines to determine which advertisers will be included in the "cut list" due to cluttering the News Feeds of members uninterested in their products or services.
One of the methods that could put the advertisers in the "cut list" is when they post announcements urging users to participate in contests, but fail to define the conditions or mechanics. Another is when they post updates that necessitates members to install or download an application or buy a certain product. In addition, posts with the exact same content as those published in earlier dates will be included in the "cut list" as well.
This new rule could potentially eliminate the ads that corporations post in the guise of Facebook updates, which have been determined as bothersome to users who only want to read posts by their friends and family or Pages they subscribed to. Apart from removing these kinds of posts to benefit the users, the new rule could be expected to compel corporations to pay in exchange for the posting of their adverts in the site.
