Facebook is updating its News Feed algorithm again, this time with an emphasis on your use of “reactions.”
The social network will now start prioritizing reactions over “likes” when ranking your News Feed. The move comes just days after the first anniversary of the feature, which was originally introduced to provide alternatives to the simple “like” button. Instead of giving users the “dislike” button they had been pining for, Facebook instead proffered a set of emoji-like icons — including Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry — to help people express their feelings toward a post.
According to the company, a reaction is a stronger indicator that you want to see similar posts to one you like. Seeing as this is Facebook (aka the biggest social network in the world) we are dealing with, this isn’t just a random assumption, it’s based on engagement data.
There are a couple of reasons why the platform chose to make this change. First, it takes more time to leave a reaction on a post than it does to leave a like — the process requires you to hold down the like button on mobile or hover over it on desktop, and then choose the appropriate icon. This indicates to Facebook’s algorithm that you care more about the post. Strangely, the ranking system won’t take into account the type of reaction you use (whether positive or negative), all reactions are weighted the same as each other.
Secondly, Facebook reactions are a huge hit, having been used a total of 300 billion times since their launch last year. In case you’re wondering, the most popular icon of all (excluding “like”) is “Love,” which makes up more than half of all reactions. Although Facebook may get a tad vitriolic at times, this particular stat proves we’re all just a big bunch of softies at heart.
Additionally, the United States ranks eighth on a list of the countries that use reactions the most. It’s preceded by Mexico, Chile, Suriname, Greece, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Belize, and followed by Brazil and Uruguay.
To sum it all up: Next time you’re on Facebook, perhaps it would be wise to take a bit more time when choosing between a like and a reaction. What may seem like the most trivial of decisions could end up shaping your cozy little filter bubble.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?