Whenever we see something on Facebook that makes us angry, we’ll usually interact with it somehow. We’ll click on the link and read it. We’ll expand the image to get a better view. We’ll give it a little frowny face.
And guess what that does? It feeds Facebook information that you like bad news. It teaches the computer. Your Facebook feed isn’t random. There’s a lot of math working behind the scenes to try to figure out what to show you.
Have you ever wondered why you didn’t see an update from a friend? Or why you keep seeing the same thing over and over? It’s because the computer has figured out what you click on. You probably didn’t interact with that friend during their last update, so the computer is going to skip it. But if you gave a frowny face to something bad, then the computer thinks “Oh, this user interacted with this content. Let’s show more.”
Facebook doesn’t care if you “disliked” something. They don’t think “Oh, this user doesn’t like this news, I better not show it again.” Just the opposite, actually. They only want the interaction. Every click creates a fraction of a fraction of a penny in revenue. So, they want to make sure you keep clicking.
So, pretty soon, you’ve painted yourself into a corner. You only see negative things. You start to see the world in the opposite of whatever rose-colored glasses are (soot-colored, perhaps?).
Do an experiment. Spend a week – Sunday through Saturday – not clicking on anything that will make you mad. Only click on things that make you happy. See what a difference it makes. I’m betting that Facebook will show you an entirely different world.
Chris Lundy
News Editor
