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RandomFactor writes:

Facebook is launching(*) a button called "Why am I seeing this post?" to start giving people information on why certain posts appear in their feeds.

Clicking on it will show information about the various pieces of data that help Facebook decide what should show above something else. So it might indicate that you tend to engage with posts that include videos, for instance, or that many of your friends have liked a certain post.

The firm is also updating the already existing "Why am I seeing this ad?" button to show how advertisers use customer lists to show ads to people.

Writing on the company's blog, Facebook product manager Ramya Sethuraman said: "Both of these updates are part of our ongoing investment in giving people more context and control across Facebook. We will continue to listen to your feedback and evolve these features over time."

Ramya goes on

During our research on "Why am I seeing this post?", people told us that transparency into News Feed algorithms wasn't enough without corresponding controls. People wanted to be able to take action, so we've made it easy to manage what you see in News Feed right from this feature.

The announcement follows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's call for increased government regulation of social media.

"Privacy is dead" applying just a little bit to one of the social media giants is certainly a good thing. Hopefully others will follow suit.

* - As of story submission, the feature is not yet available on my Facebook feed.

Original Submission