Facebook Changed Its News Feed. Here’s How To Make Sure You Still See Important, Local And State Stories

Facebook has updated its algorithm.

The change, announced on January 11th, 2018 via press release and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Facebook page, will prioritize content that your friends engage with and show you less content from brands and publishers.

Simply put: Your Facebook News Feed will soon be full of the posts that your friends comment on and like the most and will show less of the videos and articles that you see from online media outlets.

We at Wyoming Public Radio believe our strongest content is the local and state news that you, our readers and neighbors, already comment on and share with your friends and family because it matters in your life. However, there is a chance that some of the news we cover and post to Facebook won’t show in your News Feed anymore.

But we have a solution. Facebook makes these types of changes often, and while we’re not sure yet how this will affect your daily Facebook habits, there’s a way to make sure that you see the news from us that’s more important to you.

Here’s how:

ON A MOBILE DEVICE

• Log into your Facebook account and click on the three horizontal lines on the top right or bottom right (depending on phone type) of your screen.
• This will open a new page with options like “Discover People,” “Events” and “Crisis Response.” Scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Help and Settings” and click on “News Feed Preferences.”
• This will open a new page with more menu options, including “Prioritize who to see first,” “Unfollow people,” and “Reconnect with people you unfollowed.”
• Click “Prioritize who to see first.”
• You’ll see a list of Facebook pages and profiles that you already like. Hopefully, your favorite news outlet is in there somewhere.
• Scroll through the list and click on pages that publish the news that you want to keep seeing on a regular basis. The pages you choose will get a blue star in the lower right corner of their logo. Our Facebook page is called Wyoming Public Radio & Media.

Stories and videos from the pages you choose will appear first in your News Feed on all your devices.

Here’s Facebook’s explanation of what it means to see a page first in your News Feed.

ON A DESKTOP COMPUTER

The steps for choosing what to see first while you’re using a desktop computer are similar.

• First, log into your Facebook page and click the down arrow in the upper right corner of your screen. This will reveal a menu with a bunch of good stuff like your profile settings and payment options.
• In this menu, click on “News Feed Preferences.”
• A box will appear with even more menu items. Click on “Prioritize who to see first.”
• Choose the pages you’d like to see first in your News Feed. The pages you choose will get a blue star icon in the upper right corner of their logo. Our Facebook page is called Wyoming Public Radio & Media.

Stories and videos from the pages you choose will appear first in your News Feed on all your devices.