Facebook Clamps Down on "Engagement Bait"

[engine]

Starting next week, Facebook is clamping down of "engagement bait" posts which ask its members to, for example, "like if you are an Aries."

Post and pages that use tag baiting and comment baiting will now be demoted.

It doesn't stop there because the demotions will become stricter over the coming weeks, and Facebook recommends page admins should move away from this as soon as possible, and focus on "relevant and meaningful stories that do not use engagement bait tactics."

...we will demote posts that go against one of our key News Feed values — authenticity. Similar to our other recent efforts to demote clickbait headlines and links to low-quality web page experiences, we want to reduce the spread of content that is spammy, sensational, or misleading in order to promote more meaningful and authentic conversations on Facebook.

[newsroom.fb.com...]

[Marshall]

It would help FB if you could teach people the difference. After all, a lot of their users will also click on an email link about money from Nigeria.

[topr8]

While i applaud this ... from a user perspective this is just out of hand and has been for a long time.

however

Posts that use this tactic will be shown less in News Feed.

i wonder why they just don't go the whole hog and say - Posts that use this tactic will NOT be shown in News Feed at all.

[engine]

Marshall, I suspect there's no way to get that across until they have been scammed: People still fall for it.

topr8, I think that will eventually happen as the bait will become invisible and pointless.

[tangor]

This is shutting the barn door after all the livestock has escaped. The announcement will not change the way some folks post, but ti will give FB an excuse to increasingly manage what gets through. Meanwhile, "click-baiting" will re-define itself and the whack-a-mole continues.

[alenabrenda12]

this is not a good step... facebook is just... taking our pages down to make money through advertising.

[lucy24]

I thought the subject line meant that Facebook will no longer allow Russian mail-order brides to create accounts.

Oops.

[engine]

hehehe, lucy24 , we can always hope.

Whatever some might think, and misunderstand, this is not taking down pages, it's stopping the equivalent of spam, and that's a good thing, imho.

[mcneely]

Clamps down? ... Like they clamped down on fake news? LOL

Facebook Is Dropping Its Fake News Red Flag Warning After Finding It Had the Opposite Effect

[time.com...]

[jerryb123]

I guess that means no more "tag a friend and say nothing" videos - those worked great for my pages :(