You open Facebook to catch up with your friends, and you land on an argument between strangers, a cat video, an advert, then another argument. You did not ask for any of it.
Since this week, you can tell Facebook that. In your own words.
What is changing
On Tuesday Meta launched a feature on Facebook called "Your algorithm". It lets you state, simply by writing sentences, the subjects you want to see more of, and those you want to see less of, in your news feed and in short videos.
An AI translates what you write into settings for the algorithm and, according to Meta, the recommendations adapt in real time. Facebook may also ask you a few questions to better understand what you did or did not like.
The feature had already existed on Instagram since the end of last year. It is being rolled out on Facebook: depending on the country and the language, it may not be available to you yet.
How to use it
1. Open the menu. On any post, tap the three dots. That is where "Your algorithm" and the new "Interested" and "Not interested" options are found.
2. Write what you want. Be specific. Rather than "more cooking", write for example: "More quick vegetarian recipes for the evening, fewer restaurant videos." Or: "More news about my local football club, fewer political arguments."
3. Also say what you no longer want. This is often the most effective. Content that annoys you, makes you anxious or wastes your time can be flagged as such.
4. Use "Not interested". On a post you do not like, this button teaches the algorithm faster than a quick scroll.
5. Come back to it from time to time. Your wants change. Read through your settings again and adjust them.
What to keep in mind
What you write is information about you. By describing your tastes, your interests and what bothers you, you are telling Meta a great deal, and it is a company that lives on targeted advertising. Meta has not detailed how these sentences are stored. So avoid writing anything very personal there, about your health for example. We recently reminded readers that Meta's apps declare that they collect an enormous amount of data.
You are setting the algorithm, not controlling it. Your preferences are added to everything Facebook already knows about you. They steer the feed, they do not decide it on their own.
Watch out for the bubble. A feed perfectly tailored to your tastes also risks locking you into what you already know. Keep room for surprise and for points of view different from your own.
In Europe, the Digital Services Act requires very large platforms to offer at least one recommendation option that is not based on profiling, meaning the analysis of your personal data. On Facebook, this means in particular the option to display a feed where posts simply appear from most recent to oldest. If you would rather see what your friends post than what the algorithm chooses, it is an option worth knowing about.
What we take away
For years, the algorithm decided for us, without asking us anything. Being able to talk to it, in your own words, is real progress.
But an algorithm that listens to you is still someone else's algorithm. Make the most of this new power to sort things out, without forgetting that every preference you share is also information you give away.