In an attempt to make Facebook more relevant to users, the social media company is reducing the number of overly promotional posts that users see.
The move will be frustrating for businesses putting money into advertisements on Facebook, as they will now have a much smaller reach.
"This change is about giving people the best Facebook experience possible and being responsive to what they have told us," said the company in a statement. "While Pages that post a lot of the content we mention above will see a significant decrease in distribution, the majority of Pages will not be impacted by this change."
The company is targeting three types of posts created by companies on their pages. The first is "posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app," the second being "posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context," and the third is "posts that reuse the exact same content from ads."
The move is also likely to further frustrate companies, who have been complaining over the past few years that their posts are reaching fewer customers. However, it is not just a good move for users who are sick of seeing promotional content on their News Feeds, but it is also likely to help make Facebook more money due to the fact that businesses will have to put more money into ads to get the same reach.
"I understand that FB has to make money, especially now that it is public, but in my view this development turns the notion of 'fans' on its head," said actor George Takei, who has built up a following of more than 8 million followers on his Facebook page.
While it may seem as though Facebook is only making moves for users and not really doing anything for businesses, the company has taken a number of steps to provide businesses with great advertising opportunities. For example, the company released a system called Atlas in September, which larger ad buyers can use to send targeted ads to users even when they aren't using Facebook. Not only that, but the company has also been holding seminars and events designed to teach small businesses how to take advantage of advertising on the social media network.
Facebook has said that the new changes will likely not affect most businesses, but it also provided a guide for businesses with pages aimed at helping them adapt to the changes.
Facebook has been moving toward providing a better user experience in the past few years, also allowing users to customize how often their friends' posts appear on their News Feeds.
