Facebook has lifted the lid on the algorithm that decides which posts appear in its news feed as part of a drive to be more transparent.
The feature "Why am I seeing this post?", rolled out from Monday, offers insight into the tens of thousands of inputs used by the social network to rank stories, photos and video in the platform's news feed.
"The basic thing that this tool does is let people see why they are seeing a particular post in their news feed, and it helps them access the actions they might want to take if they want to change that," Facebook's Head of News Feed John Hegeman told reporters on Monday.
After a series of privacy scandals, Facebook needs to regain users' trust as it prepares to roll out a single messaging service combining Facebook messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The news feed feature will show users the data that connect them to a particular type of post, Hegeman said.
For example, they may be friends with the poster and liked their posts more than others or frequently commented on that type of post before.
It will detail some of the interactions that lead the algorithm to reach its conclusion, Hegeman said, although it will not show all of the inputs.
The company shifted its strategy for its centrepiece news feed in early 2018 when it decided to prioritise posts from family and friends and downgrade non-advertising content from publishers and brands.
