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Just admit it: you’re more interested in some of your friends’ Facebook updates than others. Facebook appears to be acknowledging this by testing out a new feature.
The world’s largest social network is testing a feature on mobile that lets users determine which friends and pages will get top billing on their News Feed, AdWeek reported on Thursday. Some users are seeing a box at the top of their News Feed inviting them to handpick their top friends and pages, according to AdWeek, adding that it’s “an easy way to always see their latest posts.”
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Facebook’s News Feed is the main highway for updates from friends and pages. Whenever a person’s friend or page they subscribe posts to Facebook — with a status update or photo uploads, for instance — that new activity shows up in the News Feed. Currently, the Facebook lets users choose whether they want to see the latest updates at the top of their News Feed or “Top Stories,” which are based on an algorithm to determine what might be the top stories in a person’s network.
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Giving users control over how their News Feed is important: Facebook has 1.4 billion monthly active users and 936 million people who use its service each day. Billions of pieces of content are hitting News Feeds each day and having a quick and easy way to manage it all is exceedingly important — especially for those who have a large number of active friends.
According to AdWeek, the new feature won’t limit what’s displayed in the News Feed, but will place an emphasis on updates from friends or pages that have been prioritized. So, if a News Feed is set to show the most recent posts, the new feature may still place an older update from a handpicked friend at the top.
Whether the feature will become a permanent edition offered to all Facebook users, however, remains to be seen. Facebook often tests new features that are never made available worldwide. It’s possible this one could end up on that junk heap or find its way to every News Feed.
