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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook is considering changing its News Feed structure to allow advertisers display more content to users. Paul Sakuma/AP
Facebook

Facebook considers yet another tweak to its news feed

Prepare for yet more temporary outcry: Facebook is thinking of changing its News Feed in a pro-advertiser move.

FACEBOOK IS REPORTEDLY considering a wholesale revamp of its ‘News Feed’ feature, in a move that could radically change the everyday experience of its hundreds of millions of users.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the social networking site is contemplating overhauling the current homepage model, which uses an algorithm to discern Friends and Pages that a user interacts with less frequently.

Currently, the status updates from an ‘inactive’ Friend or Page are automatically hidden from view, with Facebook deeming them insignificant – but this algorithm may now be scrapped in favour of an entirely unfiltered feed.

The result of the change would mean a slightly more cluttered news feed – with users being presented with updates from brands, bands and celebrities which they may previously not have been viewing.

Some users have commented that the resulting feed – which would be considerably more busy and chaotic than the average user’s current experience – would perhaps have the effect of sending users to Google+, which has attracted admiration for its more minimalist layout.

Facebook is also said to be contemplating a new mechanism to expand the use of its ‘Like’ button, potentially allowing it to be embedded in further third-party websites and apps, but would not confirm this to Cnet.

The changes are expected to be announced at a developers’ conference next month.

In other facebook, Randi Zuckerberg – the sister of founder and CEO Mark – is to leave her position as the network’s head of marketing to set up her own social media company, RtoZ Media.

The Guardian reported that the new company will focus on “the exciting trends underway in the media industry”.

Mashable also reported that Facebook has begun a legal battle against an adult dating site, Shagbook, saying its business would be damaged if Shagbook was allowed to register a trademark of its own.

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