Good news, Facebook users! You can now choose what you see in your News Feed -- or can you? The social media platform announced its "see first" feature last month, which seemingly gives users the ability to select specific people that they want to see first in their News Feed upon log in. This means you won't ever miss updates from your friends, your groups or Pages that you follow on Facebook.
What does "see first" do?
Facebook's goal with this "see first" tool is "to show you the stories that matter most to you," according to its product manager. This new update also gives users the option to unfollow any friend, group or page that they no longer want to see updates from. This particular aspect is supposed to allow its users to deemphasize specific content. However, it's important to note that how this works is still very unclear. Users still don't have the ability to see or understand what information about themselves (hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc.) they're sending to Facebook whenever they like, comment or share things on their own feed. And that's a big deal, considering 64% of U.S. adults use the platform and half of those use the site specifically to get their news. That brings into question whether this new update is giving more control to Facebook, or to its users.
Does this new feature make Facebook safer for its users?
While this may be good news for companies who want to ensure their posts are reaching their audience, it's not so much for those worried about seeing inappropriate or harmful content on their News Feeds -- parents with young, impressionable children in particular. Ads are still visible to all users, and just because you can now select what you see, doesn't mean you have full control over things that you don't want to see. The company hasn't made it clear how the new feature filters out content that you don't want popping up on your News Feed. It also doesn't give parents access to what their children are seeing nor does it help block inappropriate links to external sites.
What can I do to make sure my children are safe on social media?
Popular social media websites, like Facebook and Twitter, have recently made several updates to their platforms to help control things like cyberbullying. However, when it comes to your children's safety online, one can never be too safe. Parental control software gives parents an added peace of mind with features such as filtering and blacklists from inappropriate sites as well as social media safeguards. While keeping an open and honest line of communication with your kids is essential to protecting their online safety, parental control software can help aid in this as well.
For more information on how parental control software works and how to get started with a provider, head over to our parental control reviews.
The post Facebook News Feed Update: Is It Safer? appeared first on NextAdvisor Blog.
