• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 1, 2019

Why am I seeing this ad? That has been one of the most frequently asked questions from platforms in recent years, spanning from search to display. Content-ranking algorithms came next. Similar to Google, now Facebook has begun to detail many of the reasons for the way it serves posts and content when people use and search on its platform.

For the first time, Facebook on Sunday began explaining how its ranking algorithm works in the app.

“Why am I seeing this post?” aims to help Facebook users better understand and more easily control what they see from friends, Pages and Groups in their News Feed. Google set up an entire page to explain why it serves certain ads, but its RankBrain algorithm for search and content ranking remains much more of a mystery. 

“The goal of News Feed is to show people the posts that are most relevant to them,” wrote Ramya Sethuraman, product manager at Facebook, in a post.

Internal audits told Facebook that users wanted more transparency into why received the posts they do. So, answers to the “Why am I seeing this post?” question can be found in Facebook's drop-down menu in the right-hand corner of a post. It explains how searches and past interactions impact the ranking of posts in users' News Feeds.

If the post is from a friend, Group, or Page followed, the user can tell the user why they are seeing a certain post. It also explains the information that has the greatest influence on the order of posts, such as how often the person interacts with posts from specific people, Pages or Groups, as well as videos, photos or links, and explains the popularity of posts shared by the people, Pages and Groups followed. There are other shortcut controls as well.

Facebook has also made improvements to “Why am I seeing this ad?” a tool the company launched in 2014. It will give users context on why these ads serve up, and factors on basic demographics, interactions and website visits that contribute to the content and ads -- and then take actions to personalize them.

Businesses can reach customers by uploading information they already have, such as emails or phone numbers, explains Sethuraman. Facebook then tries to match the ad to the most relevant audience without revealing any identifiable information  back to the business.

“Why am I seeing this ad?” will provide details such as when the advertiser uploaded the information, or if it worked with another marketing partner to run the ad.