Facebook announces changes to News Feed to ensure users' time is well-spent

Facebook has announced a few updates so users will have more opportunities to interact with the people they care about. The social media platform said that among its biggest focus areas for 2018 is to ensure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg took to the social network to announce the changes. The aim of focusing relevant content will reportedly shift to helping users have more meaningful social interactions. The American entrepreneur added that they have recently obtained feedback from the community that public content is crowding out personal moments. These include business, brands and media posts.

In a statement, Head of News Feed Adam Mosseri wrote that Facebook was built to bring people closer together, and among the ways the goal is achieved is by connecting people to friends and family members. Updates on ranking can be expected in the next few months so users will have more opportunities for interaction.

Zuckerberg recognised that videos and other public content have "exploded" on the social media site in the past years. He pointed to the responsibility of ensuring that services are good for people's well-being. The company looked at academic and self-research with leading experts at universities and found that using social media to connect is good for the well-being. Zuckerberg believes that passively watching videos may not be as good even if they are informative or entertaining.

“We started making changes in this direction last year, but it will take months for this new focus to make its way through all our products,” Zuckerberg wrote in his Facebook post. He confirmed that the first changes will involve the News Feed.

This means Facebook's more than 2 billion monthly users can expect to see more from their family members and friends. Meanwhile, users can expect to encounter less public content.

Zuckerberg previously shared that his New Years' resolution was to "fix" the social network. Facebook also vowed to continue to fight against fake news.

Zuckerberg expects that by making changes to the News Feed, the time that people spend on Facebook will be more valuable. “By focusing on bringing people closer together -- whether it's with family and friends, or around important moments in the world -- we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent,” he said.