Does Social REALLY Know What I Want To See?

It all started with Facebook's filtered news feed. In an attempt to serve us just the information we want to see, Facebook began filtering content that appears in our news feeds. That means that posts from pages we've liked, brands we've followed and even friends we've accepted may not show up, and therefore missed. While this may be a good thing, especially if you have that annoying friend who only posts pictures of their cats (yes, I'm talking to you Karen...), it has left brands struggling to connect with their fans and followers on this outlet.

Pinterest quickly followed the trend by curating and ranking "Relevant Pins" vs. the chronological order of pins your friends saved. And most recently, Twitter and Instagram both announced curated feeds to launch soon.

With all of these algorithmically ordered feed changes, users have begun pushing back, asking the questions "Do these social sites really know what I want?" and "What if I miss something important?". Well here's the rub. Studies show that most of us have so many friends, fan pages and groups throughout our various social media pages that without a curated feed we end up missing about 70% of what is posted. That's right, we miss a HUGE majority (70%!) of content that is posted anyways. On top of that, they've seen that some of those without curated feeds often become quickly overwhelmed with information and end up jumping off all together.

So really, these curated feeds are being introduced in an effort to save us from ourselves (and keep us using their various social platforms). Still frustrated with what's showing up in your newsfeed? Begin curating it yourself! Here's a tip: run through your fan pages and start liking and sharing content from those you care the most about. The more you interact with a page, the more likely it is to begin organically showing up. Those 1,000 friends you have? Take a quick run through and get rid of the strangers and ones you can't stand any more- See ya' later Karen! After some time you'll begin seeing the more of the content you want, and less pictures of cats (unless you're into that kind of thing).