Facebook fights clickbait articles, you won't believe what happens next
Never mind ads -- one of the biggest annoyances on Facebook is the endless wave of clickbait articles, whose over-the-top headlines trick you into reading forgettable stories. Thankfully, the social network is as tired of this fluff as you are; it's changing the News Feed to prioritize stories that you really want to see. Facebook will now check to see how quickly you come back to its site after clicking a link, and whether or not you like or comment on the related post when you return. If many people quickly give up on a clickbait piece, your feed will downplay that story in favor of more substantial fare. Facebook is also prioritizing links shared in its preview-friendly official format, so you should have a better sense of what articles contain before you jump in. It won't be surprising if purveyors of puffed-up headlines eventually find a workaround, but the signal-to-noise ratio in your social stream will hopefully improve in the near future.
