Facebook’s algorithm for determining which friends show up on your profile and in your News Feed is complex and changing. Here are some of the key factors that go into how Facebook curates your friend list and News Feed.
Recency of Interaction
One of the most important factors is how recently you have interacted with a friend on Facebook. Friends you have commented on, liked posts, or chatted with recently are more likely to show up towards the top of your friend list and in your News Feed.
Facebook’s algorithm detects your real-world friendships based on actual interaction, not just an online connection. So if you frequently interact with certain friends on Facebook, it will assume they are closer friends and give their posts higher priority.
Frequency of Interaction
Along with recency, Facebook also looks at the overall frequency you interact with different friends. If you regularly interact with certain friends more than others, Facebook’s algorithm gives them higher weight.
For example, say you have three friends: Alice, Bob, and Carol. If you interact with Alice the most overall, Bob a moderate amount, and Carol the least, Alice will be most prominent on your profile and in your News Feed.
Relevancy of Posts
Facebook aims to show you posts and friends it believes will be most relevant to you. So it looks at things like shared interests, groups, posts you engage with, and how you interact with different friends.
For example, if you frequently like and comment on your friend John’s workout posts but rarely engage with your friend Mary’s political posts, Facebook may prioritize showing you more content related to fitness from John.
Close Friends
In 2018, Facebook introduced the Close Friends feature which allows you to designate your closest friends. Facebook gives higher priority to posts by your Close Friends in News Feed and displays them at the top of your friend list.
Choosing Close Friends provides a signal to Facebook about who your closest connections are. This causes Facebook’s algorithm to serve you more content from those friends.
History of Interactions
Facebook has over a decade of data on how you interact with friends for many users. It uses this historical data to detect meaningful patterns and apply them to News Feed ranking.
For example, if you were very engaged with a certain friend for years but have fallen out of touch recently, Facebook may continue surfacing their posts based on your long history of interaction.
Facebook Activity of Friends
How active your friends are on Facebook also plays a role in their prominence. If a friend is posting, commenting, and liking content constantly, Facebook’s algorithm picks up on their activity and may show their content more often.
On the flip side, friends who are less active on Facebook may get lower priority. So if you have some friends who use Facebook daily and others who barely log in, you’re naturally going to see more of the active users.
Importance to You
In 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to prioritize showing users content from friends, family, and groups that are meaningful to them. This placed more emphasis on personal relationships.
As a result, Facebook’s algorithm specifically tries to determine which friends are most important to you based on the nature of your interactions and history together on the platform.
Mutual Friends
Having mutual friends with another user provides a signal to Facebook that you may be interested in their content, even if you don’t interact directly. So if a friend of a friend posts often, some of their posts may end up in your News Feed.
This is Facebook’s way of exposing you to content from wider friend groups you may be interested in but don’t actively follow. The number of mutual friends can influence how many of these secondary posts you see.
Page and Group Interactions
Interacting with the same Facebook pages and groups as a friend also establishes common interests. Facebook picks up on these shared connections and may use them to surface posts from those friends more often.
For example, if you and your friend both join and actively post in the same gardening group, posts from your friend about gardening may be ranked higher by Facebook’s algorithm due to that shared interest.
Location
Location data from posts can also influence which friends Facebook shows you. When nearby friends post content, especially in the same city, it may be prioritized in your News Feed.
This is based on the assumption that posts from friends who are physically closer to you may be more relevant. Proximity creates a signal even if you don’t interact directly with those local friends.
Birthdays
Facebook typically shows posts from friends more frequently around their birthdays. This allows people to send birthday wishes and highlights the birthday posts in your News Feed.
So don’t be surprised if Facebook friends you haven’t interacted with in a while suddenly appear at the top of your News Feed on their special day.
Sponsored/Promoted Posts
Facebook inserts sponsored posts from advertisers, pages and other entities into News Feeds. They mix these paid promoted posts in with content from your friends.
So some of the “friends” you see at the top of your News Feed are actually companies or organizations who paid to get placement there.
Facebook’s Interests
While Facebook claims its goal is to show you meaningful content from friends, ultimately business needs come first. Facebook has a dual incentive to keep you engaged on the platform while also showing you ads and promoted posts.
This means that sometimes Facebook may surface certain friends more often simply because they share content that aligns with your interests or encourages engagement and sharing. They may not be your closest friends in real life.
Maintaining Active Friendships
A core purpose of News Feed is giving people exposure to posts from their wider social networks to maintain active, real-world friendships.
Facebook knows that constantly showing only your closest friends can make people disconnected from their broader networks. So it aims to balance close friends with a diverse mix of other acquaintances and connections.
Personality Traits
According to an internal Facebook researcher memo leaked in 2017, the company had been working on algorithms that analyze users’ personalities to help tailor News Feeds.
Certain personality traits like openness and extroversion seem to be associated with more sharing and engagement on Facebook. It’s possible Facebook’s algorithm looks for signals related to personality in how you use the platform.
Who You Follow on Instagram
For those who link their Instagram and Facebook accounts, who you follow on Instagram may also influence the Facebook algorithm. Friends you actively follow on Instagram may be assumed to be closer connections and ranked higher.
Facebook owns Instagram, so it can use cross-platform signals to infer who your closer friends are if you use both services.
Influence and “Social Capital”
An internal Facebook report indicated that the company was interested in detecting users with more “social capital” and surfacing their posts more often.
People with influence, prominence, and prestige on the platform may organically get their content shown to you more even if you don’t directly interact with them.
Conclusion
Facebook’s News Feed algorithm considers a complex array of factors about your friend network, interactions, interests, and behavior on the platform. It aims to determine relevance and importance of different friends to tailor the content you see.
While Facebook claims its goal is highlighting meaningful posts from loved ones, the reality is more complicated. Facebook mixes in promoted posts, factors in business interests, and displays content from a wider mix of connections beyond your inner circle.
The ever-changing News Feed ranking algorithm will likely continue evolving to pull people deeper into Facebook. While you have some control over News Feed preferences, Facebook ultimately curates your feed using data and metrics that benefit its business model.
By understanding how some of these factors work, you can better see through Facebook’s intentions and take back some control over your experience. But in many ways, how Facebook picks the friends you see most will remain a mysterious mix of art and science.
Here is a summary of some of the key factors that influence which friends you see:
| Factor | Description |
|---|---|
| Recency of interaction | Friends you interacted with recently are ranked higher |
| Frequency of interaction | Friends you interact with often get higher priority |
| Relevancy of posts | Friends who share content related to your interests and interactions are ranked higher |
| Close Friends | Facebook gives priority to posts from friends you designate as Close Friends |
| History of interactions | Long history of engagement with a friend gives them a lasting boost |
| Facebook activity level | Friends who post and engage more actively are ranked higher |
| Importance to you | Facebook analyzes engagement patterns to determine your most important friends |
| Mutual friends | Having mutual friends can increase rankings for their posts |
| Shared page/group interests | Interacting in the same groups/pages correlates with relevance of posts |
| Location | Nearby local friend posts may be ranked higher |
| Birthdays | Friends tend to appear more around their birthdays |
| Sponsored posts | Facebook inserts paid promoted posts into your News Feed |
| Facebook’s interests | Friends whose posts align with engagement and business goals may be ranked higher |
| Maintaining active networks | Facebook balances close friends with a wider mix of connections |
| Personality traits | Facebook may analyze personalities to promote engagement |
| Who you follow on Instagram | Friends you actively follow on Instagram may get a boost |
| Influence and “social capital” | Influential connections may be ranked higher due to prestige |
As you can see, the algorithm incorporates a vast array of complex factors about you, your friends, and broader Facebook activity. There is no single magic formula. Facebook’s goal of optimizing engagement and relevance leads to constant changes.
While the specific details of the algorithm are opaque, focus on connecting with the friends who matter most to you. Nurture those relationships through genuine interactions, not just passive scrolling. Ultimately, real friendships thrive based on quality, not quantity of contact.