Month: December 2017

Enlarge (credit: Facebook)

Facebook news feeds can get pretty cluttered, especially with clickbait posts fishing for as many likes, shares, and comments as possible. But it appears that enough users have complained to Facebook about these posts that the social media platform will start cracking down on what it is calling "engagement bait." In a Facebook blog post, the company explains it will demote engagement bait posts and pages starting this week.

The company defines engagement bait posts as any that encourage interaction to "artificially boost engagement" and glean more reach on the site—posts that say, "Like this post if you're an Aries or Love this if you're a Leo," and other spam-like messages. Facebook has reviewed and categorized thousands of posts like this so it could update its news feed algorithm to identify engagement bait posts and demote them on your news feed.

The hope is that with the new demotion policies, spam posts won't be shown as often on your news feed, and those that post engagement bait will stop doing so. Facebook is also implementing stricter policies for pages that "systematically and repeatedly use engagement bait to artificially gain reach." These rules will roll out over the next few weeks, so publishers should keep them in mind as they create new posts. Pages that consistently use engagement bait tactics will see the reach on those posts decline as these new rules are put into effect.

Enlarge / Much more has awakened in this week's incredible Star Wars sequel. Let's go to spoiler town to talk about it. (credit: Disney)

Haven't seen Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi yet? If not, you can't entirely be blamed, at least if you live in a city that had a ton of advance theater sell-outs. Still, between the $220 million opening weekend and the number of Star Wars fans who frequent Ars, chances are, you found a way to see Rian Johnson's rapturous, mostly amazing series debut.

For those who haven't seen the film and still clicked this article's very descriptive headline, it's not too late to remain unspoiled; our positive, light-touch review from last week can be found here. Otherwise, I have taken a full week since seeing last week's early press screening to mull over the film, not to mention a few very excited weekend chats with friends and colleagues. Like other classic Star Wars entries, this one is built for rewatching and talking about with friends and Rebellion allies, so in that spirit, let's dive into some incredibly spoilerriffic thoughts on The Last Jedi.

Seriously: It's all spoilers from here on out. You've been very, very warned.