Facebook Downranks Video Clickbait and Fake Play Buttons

In a blog post, Facebook announced that it has started downranking the News Feed presence of links that display a fake play button in the preview image, as well as videos that are actually just a static image uploaded as a video file. While Facebook won't completely delete these posts unless they violate its other policies, it will be decreasing the distribution of these stories. TechCrunch reports: Facebook has prohibited the use of fake play buttons in advertisements under its policy against depicting non-existent functionality for a few years, News Feed Product Manager Greg Marra tells me. But the scourage has remained in the News Feed. Facebook says that if publishers want to denote there's a video behind a link, they should indicate that through Open Graph meta tags. They could also use words like "Watch" or "Video" in the headline or description. Meanwhile, Facebook's emphasis on video in News Feed has inspired the new menace of publishers uploading a static image as a video to get more eyeballs. These static image videos will be downranked too. Facebook is using a "motion scoring" system that detects movement inside a video to classify and demote these clips.

Nazis are Rubbish

[Anonymous Coward]

Donald Trump loves Robert E Lee, because he's a traitor against America too.

Here you go

[Okian Warrior]

can anyone provide evidence of trump being a nazi?

Here you go [dilbert.com].

Re:

[Whibla]

^ Highest scored troll I think I've ever seen.

I'd say this goes some way to proving his point!

Re:

[rudy_wayne]

But what next? Politicians? Churches? The GIRL SCOUTS?

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Finally!

[meerling]

Though I have been blacklisting anyone that does that junk, maybe this will reduce my workload.

Re:

[antdude]

Go work for Facebook. ;)

Re:

[Cinnamon Beige]

Given Facebook's market, I suspect you'd have problems as a result unless you combined it with sufficient idiot-proofing that you have to work to do this kind of thing.

Easy solution

[allo]

Use scan lines and alternate 50 times per seconds between the two images. Full motion in each frame and still a static image.

Don't care....

[MerlTurkin]

I'm not on Facebook.