Facebook hoax? | What the Tech?

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — We’ve all seen the viral Facebook post hoax guiding you to repost a paragraph to trick the algorithm to see more of your friends and remove ads.

This is a hoax used by scammers to find and dupe gullible Facebook users.

A similar Facebook post is not a hoax and it does work.

It says, by copying, pasting, and posting this update, you’ll bypass Facebook’s algorithm that shows updates from only 25 friends. If you leave a comment, a hello, or a sticker to see more posts from your friend.

It’s true, Facebook tends to show updates from the same Friends at the top of your newsfeed.

You may have 3,000 friends but you seldom see posts from the majority of them.

For example, a post from 3 days ago appears at the top of a feed – while more recent posts from other friends are hidden.

Facebook decides whose posts you see from how often you engage with friends. If you comment or ‘like’ their posts, you’ll see more from them.

Facebook also weighs interactions. Leaving a sticker, or a reaction tells Facebook you’re interested in their posts. Love, laugh, wow, and anger reactions mean more than just likes. The more you react to some friends’ posts, the more you’re going to see their posts.

If you’re on a smartphone, tap settings, then feed, then “friends” and you should see more posts and fewer ads.

Note that this isn’t going to change your feed overnight. It can take a few weeks before you notice a change in who shows up higher in your news feed.

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