The short answer
Facebook's Feed is chosen and ordered by an AI system. According to Meta's Feed system card (updated October 6, 2026), a lightweight model first picks about 500 of the most relevant posts for you, then the system gives each a relevance score and puts them in order, while keeping a balanced mix of content types.
The score comes from predictions of what you'll do with each post: scroll past it or stop, click into it, open a link and stay on the site, tap Interested, or interact with friends and groups. For recommended posts from Pages you don't follow, Meta's recommendations card lists predictions such as how long you'll look at a post, whether you'll share it (including privately), like it, or hide it.
Where this guide's facts come from
Only Meta's own sources: the Transparency Center system cards for Feed, recommendations, Reels, video and comments (each with its own update date), Meta's Content Distribution Guidelines, the Facebook Help Center, Meta's newsroom and creators blog, and Meta's earnings call transcripts. Meta does not publish numeric weights for Facebook, so this guide gives none.
Where Feed posts come from
Feed draws on posts from your friends, Pages you follow and groups you've joined, plus recommended posts from accounts you don't follow. Meta's Widely Viewed Content Report for April to June 2026 says that in the US, 49.6% of Feed views came from friends, groups people joined or accounts they follow, and 36.6% came from in-Feed recommendations.
In October 2026 Meta said on its Q3 2026 earnings call that a new generative retrieval system now helps surface relevant new posts “before they've accumulated significant engagement”, rolled out to about a quarter of recommended Feed views and half of Reels views. In other words, a new post doesn't need early likes to be found.
What Facebook predicts for each kind of content
| Surface | Examples of what Meta's system card says it predicts |
|---|---|
| Feed | Scroll past or engage; click into a post; open a link and how long you stay on that site; tap Interested; interact with friends or a group |
| Recommended posts | Time spent looking; share, including privately on other apps; like; hide; join a group |
| Reels | Watch time; watching to the end; skipping; liking; hiding; sharing to WhatsApp or Messenger |
| Video | Watching more than 30 seconds; time watched; commenting; reacting; sharing in a chat; See less |
| Comments | Whether a comment is high quality, likely to get meaningful replies, or looks spammy or abusive |
Source: Meta Transparency Center system cards, read November 7, 2026. Each card shows its own update date.
What Meta shows less of
Meta's Content Distribution Guidelines (updated July 2, 2025) list four kinds of content whose distribution in Feed is reduced for everyone: clickbait links, engagement bait, fact-checked misinformation, and content likely to violate the Community Standards. In July 2025 Meta removed fourteen older guidelines from that list.
Engagement bait means posts that explicitly ask for votes, shares, comments, tags, likes or reactions, with exceptions such as finding missing people, fundraising or disaster information. Clickbait links means headlines that create misleading expectations, like “You won't believe...”, or heavy use of capitals and exclamation marks. Meta says the reduction can depend on how often the poster has broken the rules before.
Original content and recommendations
On July 14, 2025 Meta's creators blog said accounts that repeatedly reuse other creators' content without crediting them lose monetization for a time and get reduced distribution, and copies of a video are shown less so the original creator gets the visibility. It said stitching clips together or adding a watermark does not count as meaningful enhancement.
Facebook's recommendations help page also says Facebook doesn't recommend content largely repurposed from another source without adding value, or coordinated comment networks meant to drive engagement artificially. Sharing your own content across your own Pages is fine.
Do links get less reach on Facebook?
Meta publishes no link penalty. The Feed card lists the chance you'll open a link and how long you'll stay on that site as one of its predictions, and Meta removed its “low quality browsing experience” link guideline in 2022. What Meta does reduce is clickbait links. In December 2025 Meta told TechCrunch it was running a limited test on how many link posts some Pages and professional profiles could publish; it has not published a limit for everyone.
How you control your own Feed
- Interested and Not interested temporarily raise or lower the score of a post and posts like it.
- Favorites: up to 30 people and Pages whose posts are shown higher, newest first (Help Center).
- Feeds tab shows the most recent posts from people, Pages and groups you follow, in time order.
- Snooze hides someone for 30 days; Hide, Unfollow and Report are on every post.
- Your algorithm, announced October 13, 2026 (Meta newsroom), lets you add and manage the topics you want in Feed and Reels from the three-dot menu, and is rolling out.
What to do this week
PersonaXpand schedules your Facebook posts and Reels with your other networks and answers comments and Messenger DMs in your own voice. See also how to schedule Facebook posts and our guides to the Instagram and X algorithms.
- Give people a reason to stop. “Scroll past rather than engage” is one of Feed's predictions, so put the point in the first line or the first second of the video.
- Make it worth sending. Shares, including private shares in Messenger and WhatsApp, appear on the recommendations, Reels and video cards.
- Keep video watched. Watching past 30 seconds and to the end are both predictions.
- Post your own work. Reposted content without added value isn't recommended, and copies lose to the original.
- Drop the bait. No “like if you agree”, “tag a friend” or misleading link headlines.
- Reply to good comments. Comments likely to get meaningful replies rank higher under your post.