Think twice about what you “react” to on Facebook
Facebook has evolved a lot throughout the years, but one of the biggest changes has been the addition of “reaction buttons”, allowing users a greater range of responses to the content they see in their news feed.
However, what you may not have known is that “reacting” to an article, photo or video is considered a stronger response than simply “liking” it, and what you see on your news feed in the future will reflect that.
“Over the past year we've found that if people leave a Reaction on a post, it is an even stronger signal that they'd want to see that type of post than if they left a Like on the post,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “So we are updating News Feed to weigh reactions a little more than Likes when taking into account how relevant the story is to each person.”
Unfortunately, no matter whether you react with an “angry” or a “love” response, Facebook doesn’t currently differentiate between the two – that is, reacting angrily won’t make you see less of similar posts and reacting with “love” won’t make you see more. Rather, it registers those responses as simply “stronger” than a regular like, and you’ll be more likely to see more content that Facebook believes will elicit more “reactions” – whether they be positive or negative.
So, what can you do if you want to see less of something? Stay away from the “angry” or “sad” reactions and simply ignore it – save “reactions” for the stuff you really want to see more of. If you really want to send a message about the kind of posts you don’t want to see, clicking the arrow in the top right corner of the post and clicking “hide post” is your best bet.
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