Facebook Is Changing Their Algorithm—Here's How to Keep Your Favorite Content on Your Feed

Even if you "like" all your favorite artists, follow only the most trustworthy outlets, and cleanse toxic people from your friends list, you're still at the mercy of the programmers when it comes down to what shows up on your Facebook Feed. And if you've finally gotten comfortable with your feed, you may not be happy to hear about the latest change from the social media site: Facebook has tweaked their algorithm yet again, this time to prioritize content from friends and family over public pages. That means more pictures and statuses from people you actually know, but less links and videos from the sites you enjoy.

If you want a feed that better reflects your tastes and interests, surrendering to the new algorithm isn't the only option. Facebook has a tool for picking and choosing which pages are most important to you, but it requires some navigating to get there. According to Travel + Leisure, you can make the changes by selecting the drop-down arrow in the upper-right corner of Facebook on desktop. From there, click "News Feed Preferences," and then select "Prioritize who to see first." In the mobile app, you can get there by clicking the menu icon in the bottom-right corner, scrolling down to "Settings," and tapping "News Feed Preferences."

The window that pops up will show you a list of the friends and public pages you follow. Click a profile to highlight it and it will show up at the top of your feed whenever you log on. You can do this with close friends or family members you want to keep up with, as well as media sites like Mental Floss. If you already "like" Mental Floss on Facebook, the page should show up in the "Prioritize who to see first" list. If you have trouble finding it, visit our Facebook page to make sure you’ve hit "Liked," and then drop down the "Following" option and select "See First."

If the quality of your News Feed fluctuates from day to day, sharing your preferences with Facebook should give you more of what you want to see. And if fake news and political posts from old high school classmates continue to be a problem, you can take the opposite approach: Click the icon at the top of the post to hide or snooze that page's content.