Internet: New Tools Help Users See Specific News Feed Updates

Facebook has made it easier to control some of the posts that are sifting in and out of your News Feed, according to a news release.

The social media site announced changes Thursday that will help you prioritize what pops up in your feed, and more specifically, who you will interact with and what kinds of content you want to like and comment on.

New tools in News Feed Preferences help users select specific friends or pages from which they can see specific posts. From there, you can also tap on a specific person with the tool to check out any new posts they have shared since their last login. The regular News Feed is shown underneath this. It will also be easier to find pages you've liked based on past searchers.

Facebook discovered that users were experiencing FOMO or "fear of missing out," according to Facebook news feed product manager Adam Mosseri.

"This is the first time we've created a deterministic way for people to put their friends at the top of news feed," Mosseri said via the Business Insider. "The whole point is to connect people with stories that people find meaningful."

The Facebook iPhone app update will allow users to star certain people and pages they like, with the posts from these users always appearing at the top of their news feeds.

Furthermore, there will also be an option to view the most popular people, groups and pages users follow (based on the previous week's activity), as well as controls to easily unfollow anyone directly. And, to make it easy for indecisive users, it keeps a list of anyone you unfollow, in case you decide to re-follow them again.

The News Feed Preferences can be accessed by simply tapping ‘More' in the bottom-right corner of the iOS app. Android and support for the web version of Facebook will follow. 

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