How to Clear the Facebook Algorithm

Feeling like your Facebook feed has a mind of its own lately? You're not alone. One minute it’s full of posts from friends and family, and the next it’s a non-stop barrage of suggested Reels from accounts you’ve never heard of. You can’t technically hit a magic “reset” button, but you can absolutely retrain the Facebook algorithm to show you more of what you actually want to see. This guide will walk you through, step-by-step, how to Marie Kondo your feed and teach it what sparks joy for you, whether you’re a casual user or a marketer trying to understand the landscape.

Understanding the 'Why' Behind Your Wacky Feed

Before you can fix your feed, it helps to know why it got so weird in the first place. Think of the Facebook algorithm not as a strict rulebook, but as a prediction machine. Its one and only job is to guess what you, specifically, are most likely to watch, like, comment on, or share. It bases these predictions on thousands of signals, but the most important ones are your own past actions.

Here’s what typically throws it off course:

• Passive Scrolling and Accidental Pauses: Did you hesitate for a few extra seconds on a video about competitive cheese rolling? The algorithm sees that pause as a flickering signal of interest. Do it a few more times, and suddenly you’re the unofficial president of the cheese rolling fan club.
• Hate-Watching or Ironic Engagement: Responding to a post you disagree with, even to argue in the comments, tells Facebook, “Wow, this content is super engaging!” The algorithm doesn’t understand your sarcasm or frustration, it just sees a comment as a powerful sign that you found the post compelling.
• Shifting Interests: Remember that time six years ago when you were briefly obsessed with baking sourdough? You liked a dozen pages and joined a few groups. Now you don't even own a starter, but Facebook’s algorithm is still convinced you want to see every new carb-heavy creation that hits the internet.
• Friend and Family Dynamics: You constantly engage with your cousin’s posts because, well, it’s family. The algorithm translates this to mean you find his 14 daily political memes absolutely fascinating, so it shows you even more of his content - and content like it.

Essentially, your feed becomes a distorted reflection of your past habits, not your current interests. To fix it, you need to give it new, intentional data to work with.

Three Steps to Tame Your Facebook Feed Algorithm

Retraining your feed is an active process that boils down to two main ideas: clearly telling Facebook what you don’t want to see, and then intentionally showing it what you do want. Follow these three steps, and you’ll start seeing a difference in just a few days.

Step 1: The Great Unfollow &, Snooze - Removing the Clutter

This is the most direct and impactful step you can take. Every post in your feed has a little menu (three dots in the top-right corner) that gives you powerful tools to curate your experience on the fly. It's time to start using them aggressively.

When you see a post you don't like, click the three dots and you’ll see a few options:

• Show Less: This is a gentle nudge. You’re telling the algorithm, “I’m not super into this particular post, so maybe less of this kind of stuff.” It’s a good choice for one-off posts from people or pages you generally like.
• Snooze [Person/Page] for 30 days: This is your temporary peace button. Is a friend live-posting every single detail of their vacation? Snooze them. A page you follow running an annoying promotion? Snooze it. They won’t know it happened, and their content will reappear in your feed after a month.
• Unfollow [Person/Page]: This is your secret weapon. When you unfollow someone, you remain friends with them (or remain a "liker" of their Page), but their content completely disappears from your feed. This is the single fastest way to clean up your experience without creating any social awkwardness.

Your Action Plan: Set aside 15 minutes for a “scroll and purge” session. Scroll through your feed with the sole intention of curating. Be ruthless. Unfollow pages you liked years ago. Snooze groups that have become noisy. The algorithm pays close attention to these explicit negative signals.

Step 2: Digging into Your Feed Preferences

While the first step is about cleaning up what you see, this one is about promoting what you love. Buried in Facebook’s settings is a control panel called “Feed Preferences” that lets you create a VIP list for your feed.

To find it, navigate to Settings &, Privacy >, Settings >, Feed. Here are the most important sections to focus on:

Favorites: Your A-List Content

This is where you can tell Facebook exactly who and what matters most to you. You can select up to 30 people and pages to add to your Favorites. Posts from these sources will automatically appear higher in your normal blended feed. This sends an incredibly strong signal to the algorithm. Add your closest friends, your favorite creators, and the brands whose updates you genuinely never want to miss.

Unfollow / Snooze / Reconnect: Manage Your Roster

This area gives you a tidy dashboard of everyone you’ve previously snoozed or unfollowed. It's a great place to review your past decisions. Maybe you’re ready to see your cousin’s posts again, or perhaps you want to permanently unfollow a person you only snoozed last month. Periodically checking this section helps you maintain your newly curated feed over the long term.

Ad Topic Preferences: Making Ads More Tolerable

Let's be realistic: you can't get rid of ads. But you can make them less annoying and more relevant. Under "Ad Settings," look for "Ad Topics." In this section, Facebook shows you interest categories it thinks you have based on your activity. Remove anything that isn’t relevant anymore. Doing so not only improves your ad experience but also sends another data point to the wider algorithm about what topics no longer interest you.

Step 3: Be Proactive - Train with Positive Reinforcement

You’ve removed the bad stuff and set your priorities. Now, it's time to reward the good. Your engagement is the fuel for the algorithm, so you need to be intentional with your likes, comments, and shares for a little while.

• Interact with Purpose: Don't just mindlessly 'Like' everything. A 'Like' is a mild signal. A 'Love' or 'Haha' reaction is slightly stronger. Save your reactions for the posts you genuinely want to see more of.
• Comment Meaningfully: A comment is one of the most powerful positive signals you can send. It tells Facebook you were so invested in a piece of content that you stopped to type out a response. Even a simple “This is awesome!” or “Thanks for sharing” tells the algorithm to prioritize that source.
• Share Strategically: A share is the ultimate endorsement. When you share something, you’re telling Facebook, “This content is so valuable that I’m tying my own reputation to it and actively showing it to my friends.” The algorithm weighs this action very heavily.
• Visit Profiles and Pages Directly: Don’t wait for the good stuff to find you. Search for a few of your absolute favorite creators or brands, go directly to their page, and engage with their five most recent posts. This behavior shows direct, high-intent interest and can quickly get their content showing up in your feed again.

Try spending just 10 minutes a day for one week doing this. It's like a workout for your algorithm. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your feed starts getting the hint.

A Marketer's Take: Why Your Audience's Feed Matters

If you're reading this as a content creator, entrepreneur, or social media manager, everything above serves as a warning and an opportunity. Your audience is performing this very same "feed cleanse," consciously or not. If your content isn't genuinely good, you’ll be the one getting unfollowed, snoozed, and hidden.

Your goal is not to "beat" the algorithm but to align with it by creating content that people want to see and engage with. You need to earn your spot in their curated Favorites list.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create Content Worth a Reaction: Stop posting boring links and expecting engagement. Your content needs to do something for the user - educate them, entertain them, or make them feel something. Use formats the algorithm is currently favoring, like short-form video and Reels. Ask genuine questions that invite real answers. Share behind-the-scenes content that builds a personal connection.
2. Earn Your Comments: Don't just say, "Let us know in the comments!" Give them something specific and low-effort to respond to. Ask a "this or that" question with clear options. Run a simple poll or ask for advice. Make conversation easy.
3. Stay Consistent: The algorithm rewards consistency. If you only post once every two weeks, you’re giving it very little positive data to work with. A steady drumbeat of valuable content keeps your brand top of mind for both your audience and the algorithm that serves them.
4. Audit Your Own Content: Open your own Facebook Insights and be honest with yourself. Which posts sparked conversation? Which ones earned shares? And which ones were met with complete silence? The data will tell you what your audience considers valuable. Double down on what works and ruthlessly cut what doesn't. Your audience is already doing it for you.

Final Thoughts

Clearing your Facebook algorithm is less about a one-time fix and more about developing a new set of habits. By proactively removing content you dislike and intentionally engaging with the content you love, you can transform your feed from a stream of frustrating noise into a valuable source of information and connection.

For brands and creators, staying consistent is often the toughest part of earning a permanent spot in an audience's newly curated feed. For us, planning that content on spreadsheets and dealing with buggy, outdated social media schedulers made it even harder. It's why we eventually built Postbase - we needed a visual, reliable tool that was designed for the content we actually post today, especially short-form video. Being able to plan on a simple calendar and trust that our Reels and posts will publish flawlessly lets us spend less time fighting our tools and more time creating things our audience will actually stop and engage with.