{"id":15503,"date":"2019-07-02T16:09:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T16:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/facebook-news-feed-changes-downrank-misleading-health-info-and-dangerous-cures.html"},"modified":"2019-07-02T16:09:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T16:09:45","slug":"facebook-news-feed-changes-downrank-misleading-health-info-and-dangerous-cures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-news-feed-changes-downrank-misleading-health-info-and-dangerous-cures.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook News Feed changes downrank misleading health info and dangerous \u2018cures\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

No, drinking bleach is not a miracle cure for diseases and other conditions \u2014 but that\u2019s the sort of bogus health claim that\u2019s floating around the web these days, getting blocked by sites like Amazon<\/a> and YouTube.\u00a0<\/a>Now you can add Facebook to that list of sites taking action \u2014 well, kind of! The social network today announced<\/a> it will minimize the spread of health content that\u2019s sensational or misleading.<\/p>\n

No, not block it. Not ban it. Minimize it.<\/p>\n

Facebook <\/a> says it\u2019s taking the same approach to reduce the spread of misleading health information as it did when it previously changed the News Feed algorithms to downrank clickbait and other low-quality content. (Not that clickbait ever killed anyone<\/a> the way that fake miracle <\/a>cures have<\/a>. But we digress.)<\/p>\n

In two algorithm changes, which actually rolled out a month ago but are only today being detailed, Facebook says it\u2019s reducing the spread of posts that make exaggerated or sensational health claims, as well as those trying to sell products or services based on health-related claims.<\/p>\n

The former will go to address the dangerous miracle cures while the latter will be more focused on reducing the spread of posts trying to make a buck through unsubstantiated claims \u2014 like those touting weight loss pills, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cPosts with sensational health claims or solicitation using health-related claims will have reduced distribution,\u201d explains Facebook. \u201cPages should avoid posts about health that exaggerate or mislead people and posts that try to sell products using health-related claims. If a Page stops posting this content, their posts will no longer be affected by this change,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, with a focus on Facebook Pages, the changes may overlook a popular means of spreading misleading health information: individuals. A number of people directly post misinformation to their own Facebook timeline \u2014 either intentionally or because they\u2019re also misinformed. This can range from the relatively harmless homemade cures that aren\u2019t as effective as they claim, to those that are actually pretty bad\u00a0 \u2014 like a recipe for homemade sunscreen that puts people at risk of skin cancer<\/a> because it doesn\u2019t block UV rays \u2014 to outright dangerous information.<\/p>\n

The change also won\u2019t seemingly block the sort of \u201csocial selling\u201d where MLMs like AdvoCare<\/a>, Herbalife, or It Works!<\/a>, for example \u2014 require their salespeople to post to their own profile pages with posts they write themselves, in a knowing effort to get around News Feed changes like this. (And this is especially true if the profile owner\u2019s friends interact with the content, which makes the post seem \u2014 to an algorithm at least \u2014\u00a0 like quality fare.)<\/p>\n

Facebook says that it anticipates that \u201cmost Pages won\u2019t see any significant changes to their distribution in News Feed as a result of this update.\u201d<\/p>\n

So helpful!<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/PDOgeG-RPtU\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, drinking bleach is not a miracle cure for diseases and other conditions \u2014 but that\u2019s the sort of bogus health claim that\u2019s floating around the web these days, getting <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-15503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t