Facebook ends News Feed trial in SL, five other countries

Facebook on Thursday put an end to a test of splitting its signature News Feed into two, an idea that roiled how people consumed news in six countries including Sri Lanka, Reuters said on Friday.

The test began in October and took place in Bolivia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Serbia, Slovakia and Sri Lanka.

It has quickly reduced website traffic for smaller media outlets, some of which had built their audiences on Facebook clicks.

The test created two streaming series of posts. One was focused on photos and other updates from friends and family, and a second was called an “explore feed.”

It was dedicated to material from Facebook pages that the user had liked, such as media outlets or sports teams.

The social media network decided to end the test and maintain one feed because people told the company in surveys they did not like the change, Adam Mosseri, head of the News Feed at Facebook, said in a statement.

“People told us they were less satisfied with the posts they were seeing, and having two separate feeds didn’t actually help them connect more with friends and family,” Mosseri said.

Mosseri said the company had also “received feedback that we made it harder for people in the test countries to access important information, and that we didn’t communicate the test clearly.”

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled other changes to the Facebook News Feed in the past two months to fight sensationalism and prioritise posts from friends and family.

Facebook and its competitors are under pressure from users and government authorities to make their services less addictive and to stem the spread of false news stories and hoaxes.