How to Refresh the Facebook Algorithm

Ever feel like your Facebook news feed is showing you the same five people and a handful of sponsored posts on loop? You're not scrolling through an endless parade of random content, you're being served what an algorithm thinks you want based on old habits. This article will show you exactly how to take back control and refresh the Facebook algorithm by giving it clear, new signals about what you actually want to see in your feed.

First, Let's Understand the Facebook Algorithm

In simple terms, Facebook's algorithm is a complex system designed to keep you on the platform for as long as possible. To do this, it analyzes everything you do: the people you interact with, the pages you follow, the videos you watch for more than three seconds, the posts you react to, and even the type of ads you click on. It then takes all that data and creates a predictive model of what you'll find most engaging.

The problem is that this model can quickly become outdated. An interest you had two years ago might still be dictating which posts surface to the top of your feed today. The result is a stale, repetitive experience that feels more like an echo chamber than a vibrant social feed. To fix it, you need to be deliberate about curating your actions and telling the algorithm what you care about now. Luckily, Facebook gives you a surprising number of tools to do just that.

Start with A Quick 'Friend &, Page Audit'

The fastest way to start refreshing your algorithm is to clean house. Over the years, you've likely accumulated hundreds, if not thousands, of connections to people and pages that no longer add value to your online experience. Pruning this list sends strong signals to Facebook about what to filter out.

Unfollow or Unfriend Profiles You No Longer Engage With

There's a big difference between unfriending and unfollowing. Unfriending severes the connection entirely, while unfollowing simply removes their content from your news feed. You remain friends, but their posts no longer appear. This is the perfect, low-drama way to declutter your feed.

• Go to a friend’s profile you want to stop seeing content from.
• Click the "Friends" button.
• Select "Unfollow" from the dropdown menu.

Repeat this for anyone whose posts you tend to scroll past without a second thought. Be ruthless. Every person you unfollow tells the algorithm valuable information about the type of content you find uninteresting.

Mute People Temporarily with the "Snooze" Feature

What if a friend is just going through a very enthusiastic phase of over-posting about a specific topic you don't care about? You don't need to unfollow them forever. Instead, use the "Snooze" feature to take a temporary 30-day break from their content.

1. Find a post from the person or page in your News Feed.
2. Click the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of their post.
3. Select "Snooze [Name] for 30 days."

The algorithm takes note of this action, learning that you're currently not interested in that type of content. It's a great way to handle short-term annoyances without making a permanent change.

Unlike Old Pages You Don’t Care About Anymore

Back in 2011, you might have loved a page dedicated to a TV show that's long been canceled. That "like" is still active in Facebook's system, telling the algorithm you're interested in that topic. It's time to scrub this old data.

• Go to your profile page.
• Click the "More" tab beneath your cover photo, then select "Likes."
• You'll see a list of all the pages you've liked. Systematically go through and click "Unlike" on pages that are no longer relevant to your interests.

This is an incredibly effective way to stop getting recommended content from years-old interests and clean up the data the algorithm is working with.

Take Direct Control of Your News Feed Settings

Beyond cleaning up old connections, Facebook offers direct controls to fine-tune your feed. Think of these as your personal settings for the algorithm.

Use the “Show More” and “Show Less” Buttons

This is arguably the most powerful yet underutilized tool for directly training the algorithm. When you see a post in your feed, Facebook wants your feedback on it. Use it every single time you have a strong opinion。

• On any post, click the three dots (...).
• You'll see options for "Show more" and "Show less."

If you see a post you love and want more content like it, click "Show more." This will temporarily increase the ranking of similar posts. If you see something you're tired of (like posts about a certain political topic or celebrity), click "Show less." This will temporarily decrease the ranking of that type of content.

The more you use these buttons, the faster the algorithm will adapt to your current preferences. It's a direct conversation with the system, and it works remarkably well.

Fine-Tune Your Feed Preferences

Facebook hides some of its best curation tools deep in the settings. Here's where to find your command center for your News Feed:

1. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner.
2. Go to Settings &, Privacy >, Feed.

Inside, you'll find a few key options:

• Favorites: This is your VIP list. You can choose up to 30 people and pages to add to your Favorites. Their posts will appear higher in your feed, and you can also view a "Favorites only" version of your feed. Adding a brand or person here is one of the strongest positive signals you can send.
• Unfollow: This gives you a single, centralized list of everyone you’re following. It’s a fantastic way to do a quick unfollow spree without having to visit individual profiles.
• Reconnect: Here, Facebook will show you people, pages, and groups you’ve unfollowed in the past, giving you an easy way to bring them back into your feed if your interests have changed again.

Retrain the Algorithm With Intentional Action

Up until now, we've focused on removing bad signals. The next step is to actively provide good ones. How you engage with content moving forward will either reinforce old habits or carve new paths for the algorithm to follow.

The Power of Conscious Interaction

Not all interactions are created equal. In the eyes of the algorithm, a comment is worth far more than a simple "like." A share is even more valuable. When you want to teach the algorithm about a new interest, you need to engage deeply.

Let's say you're getting into gardening. Do this:

1. Use the search bar to find a few popular gardening groups or pages.
2. Follow or "like" the pages.
3. More importantly, find one or two recent posts on that page. Leave a genuine comment, even if it's just asking a simple question like, "This is beautiful! What kind of fertilizer do you recommend?"

That single comment carries more weight than dozens of passive "likes." It tells Facebook, "Hey, this isn't just a fleeting interest, this user is truly engaging with gardening content." Within a few days, you'll likely start seeing more gardening posts appear organically in your feed.

Join and Participate in Relevant Groups

Facebook's algorithm places a heavy emphasis on community and interaction, which means content from Groups is often prioritized in the News Feed. Finding and joining active groups related to your hobbies, career, or neighborhood is one of the fastest ways to introduce new, high-quality content into your daily scroll.

But don't just lurk. The key is to participate. Ask questions, answer others' questions, share a relevant link, or react to interesting posts. The more active you are in a group, the more of its content will surface in your feed, effectively reshaping what Facebook shows you around this new interest.

A Deeper Clean: Managing Your Off-Facebook Activity

This is a more advanced technique that cuts to the core of how Facebook tracks you around the web. "Off-Facebook Activity" is information that businesses and organizations share with Facebook about your interactions with them, such as visiting their website or using their app. This data is used to serve you personalized ads, but it also influences the organic content suggestions you see.

Cleaning it out can feel like hitting a reset button on some of the algorithm's deep-rooted assumptions about you.

How to manage your Off-Facebook Activity:

1. Go to Settings &, Privacy >, Settings >, Your Facebook Information.
2. Click on Off-Facebook Activity.
3. You will see a list of apps and websites that have shared your activity. Here you have a few options:

• Clear History: This will disconnect all logged past activity from your account. It's a powerful move that erases years of data tracking and forces the algorithm to rely more on your recent, on-platform actions.
• Disconnect Specific Activity: If you don't want a full reset, you can choose which specific apps or websites you'd like to disconnect from your account.
• Manage Future Activity: This setting allows you to turn off future off-Facebook activity tracking altogether. Your ads might become less personalized, but you'll feel better knowing your browsing habits aren't directly feeding the algorithm.

Managing this data gives you an additional layer of control, helping ensure that what you did on some random e-commerce site three weeks ago isn't deciding what you see on your feed today.

Final Thoughts

Refreshing your Facebook algorithm isn't a one-time fix, it's an ongoing process of curation. By consistently unfollowing old interests, actively engaging with new ones, and leveraging Facebook's built-in tools like "Favorites" and "Show less," you can train the system to deliver a news feed that's relevant, interesting, and aligned with who you are today.

Consistently putting out the right signals is one of the biggest challenges for marketers and creators, but we've found that managing it is so much simpler with the right system. Since we designed Postbase with a visual content calendar, you can see all your content at a glance, allowing you to plan a consistent and diversified strategy that sends exactly the right signals to the algorithm about what your content is about, day after day.