Starting this week, Facebook will demote posts that use engagement baits and trick users into liking, sharing, or commenting on a post.
In a blog post, the social media platform said that it would begin penalizing individual posts from people and Pages that basically goad people to engage in the post.
The announcement explained that posts similar to "LIKE this if you're an Aries!" are engagement baits that take advantage of Facebook's News Feed algorithm as they boost engagement, making the platform think that they should be on top of the News Feed.
"Posts that use this tactic will be shown less in News Feed," Facebook said.
A new machine learning model will now be able to detect this kind of baits. After reviewing and categorizing hundreds of thousands of posts, it could now identify different types of engagement baits.
Facebook noted that it will give Pages a few weeks to adapt, but promised that stricter demotions will be implemented in a few weeks. The platform warned that continuing with engagement baits will result in "significant drops" in reach.
"Moving forward, we will continue to find ways to improve and scale our efforts to reduce engagement bait," Facebook said. "We want to reduce the spread of content that is spammy, sensational, or misleading in order to promote more meaningful and authentic conversations on Facebook."
The platform adds that the keyword is "authenticity," and posts that link to low-quality web pages will get lower priority.
The new rule, however, will not affect posts that ask for help, advice, or recommendations as well as those circulating reports for missing persons, animals, or even things. Posts that raise money for a cause or ask for travel tips will also not be impacted.
Facebook advises Page Administrators to focus instead on posting relevant and meaningful stories that do not need engagement baits to get better reach.
