In November, Facebook rolled out a new feature that allows users to “unfollow” pages or friends without having to “defriend” anyone. This is a discreet way to avoid annoying or irrelevant content while retaining the ability to view friends’ pages or have your liked pages continue to appear on your profile. Facebook now allows you to control the content on your feed at a more granular level, allowing you to see less of a poster without blocking them entirely. These features are more convenient and visible than ever before.
I first learned about Facebook’s new “unfollow” feature through promotional ads they have been running on my news feed. In these ads people describe the reasons they have for unfollowing friends, and encourage users to unfollow “early and often.” I was surprised to see these ads on Facebook itself – unfollowing has always seemed like something Facebook discouraged both through design and site culture. Unfollow buttons were small and difficult to find, and people are encouraged to gather more friends and interact with the site more often. Now Facebook seems more invested in enabling users to curate their feeds. I began to understand what Facebook was doing – when users can curate their feed, they will receive better content, and if they receive better content they are more likely to visit Facebook regularly. In this way, Facebook has created a model where controlled dis-engagement can lead to greater general engagement.
This reminded me of a lot of discussions we’ve had in class about some of the problems with social media – pervasiveness, social envy, and the illusion of connection. Perhaps curation is an answer to some of these problems. A smaller, more focused and relevant news feed consisting mostly of strong ties could alleviate some of the pervasive stress of social media.
Edited to Add: I finally found the Facebook page that has the promotional videos that where showing up on my wall. You can view it here.
Your point about curation being the answer to some of the problems we have discussed in class is valid. It reminds me of the filter bubble that all of us Googlers live in as we go about our online activity. Curation and the filter bubble both mean that we see more of what we want to see and less of what we disagree with. From a critical perspective this can be dangerous.
That’s true – too much curation can lead to a bit of an echo chamber effect. But I think that can be true in any kind of social selection. Some people choose friends who share all the same opinions; some people diversify. You can do the same with your digital social network.