Hugh Hollowell

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An old school way to circumvent Facebook’s algorithm

This essay published October 4, 2018

Having just moved to a new city, I am meeting lots of new people, and some of them I add as friends on Facebook. But since I have never interacted with them before, I seldom see them in my news feed. Thanks, Facebook (not).

In addition, I have some relatives who seldom post anything to Facebook, and since the algorithm is focused on engagement, I never see their posts either.

Neither of these scenarios makes me happy. So I developed an old-school workaround.

Here is how I do it.

Basically, I just pull up the page for anyone I want to stay on top of, and then bookmark it to a folder in my bookmark bar that I creatively called “Facebook.” Then, whenever I want to check on folks (I do this once a week or so) I right click on the folder and then click “Open all”, which then opens all of those pages in new tabs. I look at each page briefly to see what, if anything, has been updated. I also make it a point to click “like” or comment on their recent posts, which will, theoretically, over time teach Facebook that I want to see their stuff.

You could also use this to keep track of family, or old high school friends whose updates you never see, etc.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: community, Facebook, Social Media

Hugh Hollowell is a writer and speaker based in Jackson, MS. His writings have appeared in, among other places, The Washington Post, Sojourners, and Ethics Daily. He only publishes here sporadically, but does publish a weekly newsletter. Some people like it.

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