Instant Census Blog

Facebook is improving users’ newsfeeds, which is not anything new coming from a company who is constantly releasing new product features and improving existing capabilities. But instead of relying on analyzing traditional data from their platform, such as users’ likes, comments, and shares, Facebook will use surveys to collect user feedback to improve newsfeeds.

Surveys will be featured in users’ newsfeeds and ask questions pertaining to the level of interest on certain posts. Facebook explains,

“We’ll…survey tens of thousands of people around the world each day to learn more about how well we’re ranking each person’s feed. We ask people to rate each story from one to five stars in response to the question, ‘How much did you want to see this story in your News Feed?’”

Facebook’s decision to introduce in-feed surveys allows for a better understanding of their audiences. Some users may choose not to click, like or comment on a particular post of interest, instances that would have gone unaccounted for in previous data collecting methods. By integrating surveys with questions that directly ask users about their level of interest in certain posts, Facebook can now gain the insights of those passive users who do not interact with certain posts. It is the inclusion of these new insights that Facebook will use to make ranking changes on individual newsfeeds. In addition, the social media giant will also poll over 1,000 individuals on their “Feed Quality Panel” to rate their daily experience and submit responses on how content on the platform can be improved.

While surveying audiences on user experience is nothing new, Facebook’s utilization of multiple techniques and technologies to solicit user feedback points to the reality that just one means of connecting with and gathering feedback from users isn’t enough. Utilizing a combination of survey tools and data collection methods has become common practice for User Experience and Market Research professionals. It’s this reason Instant Census customers love using our sms message surveys to complement other survey technologies. Whether you’re sending reminders to complete email surveys, sending links to web-based surveys, or performing all your research through our text message surveys, Instant Census offers a more effective and efficient means of communicating with you audiences.