Does copying & pasting message “bypass” Facebook’s algorithm? Fact Check
A message on Facebook claims that because of a recent “new algorithm”, Facebook users are limited to seeing the same 25 or 26 friends appear on their newsfeed. The message goes on to urge readers to copy the same message to their own timeline in order to “bypass” that algorithim and see more users on their newsfeed.
FALSE
The message has been spreading since 2018. Examples of it can be seen below –
Hello! Thanks for the tips to bypass FB…it WORKS!! I have a whole new news feed. I’m seeing posts from people I haven’t seen in years. Here’s how to bypass the system FB now has in place that limits posts on your news feed. Their new algorithm chooses the same few people – about 25 – who will read your posts. Therefore, Hold your finger down anywhere in this post and “copy” will pop up. Click “copy”. Then go your page, start a new post and put your finger anywhere in the blank field. “Paste” will pop up and click paste. This will bypass the system. Hi new and old friends! Missed you!
Collected November 2018
Fixed my blocked posts I wondered where everybody had been!
This is good to know: It’s ridiculous to have 516 friends and only 25 are allowed to see my post.
I ignored this post earlier, because I didn’t think it worked.
It WORKS!! I have a whole new news feed. I’m seeing posts from people I haven’t seen in years.
Here’s how to bypass the system FB now has in place that limits posts on your news feed.
Their new algorithm chooses the same few people – about 25 – who will read your posts. Therefore,
Hold your finger down anywhere in this post and “copy” will pop up. Click “copy”. Then go your page, start a new post and put your finger anywhere in the blank field. “Paste” will pop up and click paste.
This will bypass the system.
Collected October 2019
Thanks for the tip to circumvent Facebook… Works!! I have a whole new profile. I see posts from people I didn’t see anymore. Facebook’s new algorithm picks the same people – around 25-who will see your posts. Hold your finger anywhere in this post and click ” copy “. Go to your page where it says ” what you’re thinking “. Tap your finger anywhere in the empty field. Click paste. This is going to circumvent the system
Hello new and old friends!
Drop a single hello, thanks
Collected June 2020
Thanks for the tip to circumvent Facebook…OO5251839 Works!! I have a whole new profile. I see posts from people I didn’t see anymore. Facebook’s new algorithm picks the same people – around 25-who will see your posts. Hold your finger anywhere in this post and click ” copy “. Go to your page where it says ” what’s on your mind”. Tap your finger anywhere in the empty field. Click paste. This is going to circumvent the system.
Hello new and old friends!Hello
Drop a single hello, thanks! PLEASE SAY HELLO IF YOU SEE THIS.
Hello to all!
Collected May 2021
To be clear, the above messages are entirely nonsense, and just a spin-off from similar, older messages that were also inaccurate.
Facebook’s newsfeed is designed to show you more content from friends you engage with regularly, and less content from friends you engage with rarely. That’s been the case since the early beginnings of the social media platform. This doesn’t mean you’re being “limited” to the number of friends you can see, instead it means that Facebook places a higher priority on certain types of friends that the platform assumes you’ll be more interested in.
Consequently, there is no “new algorithm” from Facebook, much less an algorithm to “bypass”. You’re not limited to 25 or 26 friends (this number appears entirely arbitrary).
And even if Facebook did introduce some friend-limiting new algorithm into the newsfeed (they haven’t) you wouldn’t be able to somehow bypass it simply by copying some random warning message.
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The roots of this hoax started in 2017 when the same claim (about being limited to 25/26 friends) began to circulate. Those earlier hoaxes differed slightly by asking readers to comment with an emoji or type “hi”. Those messages were based on the hazy reasoning that because Facebook looks for engagement between friends when deciding who appears on whose newsfeed, typing “hi” as a comment should suffice. The problem, however, is that Facebook looks for meaningful engagement, meaning such posts were unlikely to have any significant effect.
However, by 2018, the messages had evolved (to the examples above) and were simply claiming that you could “bypass” a “new algorithm” simply by copying and pasting a message (the request to type a comment now omitted.)
That is, of course, entirely nonsense. There is no special attribute or quality that any of the messages above possess that would allow them to bypass any type of algorithm that will result in more people appearing on a person’s newsfeed.
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As we always say, if you want a particular friend (or friends) to appear in your newsfeed more often, you should engage with them on Facebook, which could mean speaking through Messenger, commenting, liking or sharing each other’s posts or tagging each other in photo or video.
Users who speak with lots of friends will see more friends appear on their newsfeed. Users who interact with only a small number of friends on a regular basis will see fewer friends on their newsfeed. It really is that simple.