Facebook Begins Testing New News Feed Controls for Advertisers, Users

Facebook introduced new News Feed controls Thursday for both users and advertisers on its platform. The social network said it is testing new ways to make it easier for users to find and use controls that enable them to adjust their ranking preferences and customize their News Feed experience. As part of this, people now have the ability to increase or lower the amount of content they see in their News Feed from family, friends, groups and pages they are connected to, as well as topics they have expressed interest in via their News Feed preferences. Facebook is also experimenting with ways to make controls such as favorites, reconnect, snooze and unfollow easier to access. The company said testing will begin with a small percentage of people globally in the coming weeks, followed by gradual expansion. Facebook will also expand its advertiser topic exclusion controls to a limited number of brands that run ads in English. Advertisers can select three topics—crime and tragedy; news and politics; and social issues—and their ads will not be delivered to people who recently engaged with those topics in their News Feed. In early testing with advertisers, Facebook’s findings included: By excluding news and politics, advertisers were able to avoid adjacency to those topics 94% of the time.By excluding tragedy and conflict, advertisers were able to avoid adjacency to those topics 99% of the time.By excluding social issues, advertisers were able to avoid adjacency to those topics 95% of the time. Facebook pointed out that users can manage how advertisers can reach them via its Ad Preferences settings. The company wrote in a blog post, “We see this product as a bridge between what we can offer today and where we hope to go—content-based controls. We will soon begin exploring and testing a new content-based suitability control that will aim to address concerns advertisers have of their ads appearing in Facebook and Instagram feeds next to certain topics based on their brand suitability preferences. We aim to design our exploration in line with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media Suitability Framework. We expect to kick off in 2022 and provide updates along the way starting in the first quarter.” Facebook will also collaborate with third-party brand safety partners before 2021 ends to develop a solution to verify whether content adjacent to ads in News Feed aligns with brands’ suitability preferences, kicking off with a request for proposals in the coming weeks. Meta vice president of client council and industry trade relations Samantha Stetson said in a statement, "Providing advertisers control over the content their ads appear next to is incredibly important work for us, and to our commitment to the industry via GARM. We’re excited to be able to give advertisers more choice in the News Feed brand suitability controls available to them—especially as we start to develop and test a content-based control next year. It will take time, but it’s the right work to do.”

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Facebook Begins Testing New News Feed Controls for Advertisers, Users

The focus on the former is on brand suitability for their ads

David Cohen

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