Facebook announces major change to its News Feed as Mark Zuckerberg explains users will see more content from afriends and family as opposed to media and businesses

Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes in a Facebook post on Thursday

Changes will mean a family video clip will be prioritised over company posts

It may mean that the amount of time people spend on Facebook will decrease 

Zuckerberg said it would be better for users and for the business in the long term

Facebook is making major changes to its News Feed so that users can see more content that family and friends share instead of a high amount of content from pages or celebrities.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes in a sweeping Facebook post on Thursday, saying it was the first in a series of changes in the design of the world's largest social network.

Facebook has already started changing the way it filters posts and videos on its centerpiece News Feed to prioritize content from friends and family of the user. 

For example, a family video clip posted by a spouse will be deemed more worthy of attention than a snippet from a star or favorite restaurant.  

Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday that Facebook has started changing the way it filters posts and videos on its centerpiece News Feed to prioritize content from friends and family

'As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media,' Zuckerberg said in a post at his Facebook page. 

'And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard - it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.' 

The company has for years prioritized material that its complex computer algorithms think people will engage with through comments, 'likes' or other ways of showing interest. 

Zuckerberg said that would no longer be the goal.

'I'm changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions,' Zuckerberg said.

The shift was likely to mean that the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement would go down in the short term.

However, Zuckerberg said it would be better for users and for the business over the long term.

John Hegeman, a Facebook vice president, said that advertising on the social network would be unaffected by the changes.

Facebook and its social media competitors have been inundated by criticism that their products reinforce users' views on social and political issues and lead to addictive viewing habits, raising questions about possible regulation and the businesses' long-term viability.

HOW FACEBOOK WILL PRIORITIZE FRIENDS IN YOUR NEWS FEED 

Up until now, Facebook has prioritized material that its algorithms think people will engage with through comments, 'likes' or other ways of showing interest.

But 33-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to change the focus to help users have 'more meaningful social interactions.'

The move follows his resolution in 2018 to 'fix' the site. 

It is also in response to criticism that Facebook and its social media competitors reinforce users' views on social and political issues.

Critics also say sites like Facebook lead to addictive viewing habits.

Zuckerberg cited research that suggests reading 'passively' on social media was damaging for people's mental health, while interacting proactively with friends was positive.

According to Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s New Feed boss, in practice the change mean

• Posts from friends and family will get more prominence that video, news, and other content from formal Facebook pages, such as companies and celebrities
• The number of comments on a post will count more than the number of Likes  
• Posts where people have spend the time to write lengthy comments will be priotized over those with only short comments
• While, news and video will still appear in News Feed, the number of friends sharing it will matter more than its overall popularity

The shift could mean that the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement would go down in the short term.

However, Zuckerberg said it would be better for users and for the business over the long term.

The change will take place in the coming weeks.  

The company has for years prioritized material that its complex computer algorithms think people will engage with through comments, 'likes' or other ways of showing interest 

WHAT THE EXPERTS THINK OF FACEBOOK'S CHANGES TO MAKE YOUR NEWSFEED MORE SOCIAL 

Facebook is making major changes to its News Feed so that users can see more content that family and friends share instead of a high amount of content from pages or celebrities. 

Here are what the experts think: 

It's about Facebook making more money from ads 

'It's laughable that they're pretending this is about their users' 'well-being'. It's not - it's about them making more money from ads', Lilach Bullock, a London-based content marketing and social media specialist told MailOnline. 

'It feels like every year, businesses, publishers, and other Pages need to open up their wallet if they want anyone to see their updates', she said.

'Now, users need to be 'protected' from seeing content that Facebook deems unworthy of them.'

She believes people can decide for themselves what they want to follow instead of having Facebook decide what protects their 'well-being'.

Ms Bullock also warns the changes will affect small companies the most.

'Big companies with big followings on Facebook might be affected, but they'll have the funds to get results in other ways.

'Small businesses, on the other hand, and social causes will massively struggle.'

People will not spend less time on Facebook 

Mark Zuckerberg said that as a result of the changes he believed people would spend less time on Facebook.   

However, Tristan Harris, who spent three years as a Google Design Ethicist said it is unlikely Facebook will become any less addictive.

'Their business depends on them monetizing people's attention,' he told Wired.

'They'd have to fundamentally reexamine their business model to stop doing that.'

It lacks transparency. We don't yet know what conversations will be prioritized  

Other experts have agreed it will cause 'significant change' but Facebook has not been clear about what type of discussions it will prioritise. 

It may be that controversial conversations are prioritized or group pages where people engage on specific topics, Laura Hazard Owen at Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab told BBC. 

'It's going to affect publishers a lot, we're going to be seeing a lot less news organically pop up in our news feeds', Ms Owen said. 

There should be a public debate on the issue  

Earlier this week investors said the habit-forming nature of gadgets and social media are one reason why companies like Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook Inc added $630 billion (£463 billion) to their market value in 2017.

One expert believes the announcement is a 'clear admission' from the company that their site has an important effect on the health of society. 

'There should be public debate about the values they're applying to that algorithm,' said Gabriel Kahn from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  

The company has been criticized for algorithms that may have prioritized misleading news and misinformation in people's feeds, influencing the 2016 American presidential election, as well as political discourse in many countries.

Last year, Facebook disclosed that Russian agents had used the network to spread inflammatory posts to polarize the American electorate.

Congress is expected to hold more hearings this month, questioning the role social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's YouTube play in spreading propaganda.

Zuckerberg said an overhaul of the company's products, beginning with changes to the algorithms that control the News Feed, would help to address those concerns. 

Similar changes will be made to other products in the coming months, he said.

'We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being,' Zuckerberg said.

With more than 2 billion monthly users, Facebook is the world's largest social media network. It is also among the world's largest corporations, reporting $36 billion in revenue, mostly from advertising, during the 12 months that ended on September 30.

A shift away from non-ad content produced by businesses is a potentially severe blow to news organizations, many of which use Facebook to drive readership, but Zuckerberg said many such posts have been unhealthy.

'Some news helps start conversations on important issues. But too often today, watching video, reading news or getting a page update is just a passive experience,' he wrote.