Facebook's Your algorithm: posting when people tell Feed what they want

Facebook now lets people tell its recommendation system, in their own words, what they want to see more or less of in Feed and Reels. The people scrolling past your posts can now say why they want something, not just tap a like or scroll on. Here is what changed, what it means for your reach, and what to check in your next batch of posts.

What Facebook has changed

Meta announced the change on 13 October 2026 in a post called Your Algorithm, Your Words: New Ways to Shape What You See on Facebook. There are three parts to it:

• Your algorithm. A dedicated space where people can add and manage the topics they want to see in Feed and Reels. It sits in the three-dot menu that appears on every post.
• Follow-up questions on feedback. When someone taps Interested or Not interested on a post, Facebook may now ask what exactly they liked or disliked, and they can answer in plain language.
• Changes that happen straight away. Meta says recommendations update in real time, adapting within the same session.

A quick note on terms. The "algorithm" here means Facebook's ranking systems: the software that decides which posts appear, and in what order, in someone's Feed and Reels. Until now these systems mostly guessed what people liked from what they did: what they liked, commented on, watched or skipped. Meta says large language models (the kind of AI that understands ordinary written language) now let the system take in what people type as well, and combine that with everything it already infers from their behaviour.

If this sounds familiar, Instagram introduced a similar Your Algorithm control for Reels in late 2025. Meta's announcement doesn't give rollout dates or regions, so don't be surprised if you can't see it on your own account yet.

What it means for who sees your posts

Most of what a small brand posts on Facebook reaches two groups: people who already follow the Page, and people who don't but get the post as a recommendation. This change matters most for the second group, and for Reels in particular, where recommendations do much of the work.

People won't type "brand content, please". They'll write things like "easy weeknight recipes", "local walking routes", "less celebrity gossip" or "more woodworking tips for beginners". So the question to ask about every post is whether it plainly belongs to a topic someone might ask for.

That has a few consequences:

• Clear topics should travel further. If a post is obviously about one thing, it's easier for a system that is matching against people's written interests to place it in front of the right viewers.
• Vague posts lose out. A Reel captioned "Monday mood" with no clear subject gives the system little to match against what people have asked for.
• "Not interested" gets more specific. Before, a Not interested tap was a blunt signal. Now someone can explain, for example, "no more sales posts" or "too many reposted memes".
• Interests can shift within a session. Because recommendations adapt in real time, someone who has just told Facebook they want fewer of a certain kind of post may stop seeing yours quickly, and someone who has just asked for your topic may see more.

You won't see what people type into Your algorithm, and Meta hasn't said it will report any of it to Pages. You'll only see the effect, indirectly, in your reach and engagement.

How to write posts that match what people ask for

None of this calls for a new strategy. It rewards habits that were already good practice.

Say what the post is about, early and in plain words

Put the subject in the first line of the caption, using the words a customer would use. If you're a bakery posting a sourdough video, say "sourdough" rather than "our latest creation". If the text on screen in a Reel names the topic too, even better, because it makes the subject unmistakable to both people and machines.

Keep each brand to a few steady topics

Pick a small set of subjects each brand reliably posts about, sometimes called content pillars, and stick to them. A garden centre might cover seasonal planting, houseplant care and events in store. Steady topics make each post easier to classify and give people a reason to follow.

Describe, don't tease

Clickbait openers like "You won't believe this" tell nobody what's coming. A plain description works better, for people and for the ranking system.

Vague	Plain and specific
Monday mood	Simple stretches for desk workers, filmed at our studio
New in	New season walking boots, waterproof and wide-fit
Guess what we've been up to	Behind the scenes: how we roast our coffee in small batches
Big news coming	Our café opens on Sundays from next month

Write for each network rather than copying across

The same habit helps on Instagram, but captions still need to fit each network's length and tone. If you adapt one brief, keep the topic words consistent across versions. This is where Syndera can help: you write one brief, and AI Assist writes a version for each channel in the brand's voice, fitted to that network's length, tone and tags.

What can go wrong

• Keyword stuffing. Cramming a caption with every topic you can think of reads badly and blurs what the post is about. One clear subject beats several loose ones.
• Mismatched captions. A caption that promises one thing and a video that shows another is the kind of post that earns a specific "not interested" explanation. Make sure the words describe what's really in the post.
• Too many hard-sell posts. People can now tell Facebook in plain language that they want fewer promotional posts. A Page that sells in every post risks being filtered out by the people it most wants to reach. Mix in posts that are useful or interesting in themselves.
• Chasing every trend. Jumping on unrelated trends to grab reach can dilute what a brand is known for, which makes it harder to match the topics people choose.
• Reading too much into short-term swings. Because recommendations now respond within a session, reach may wobble more from post to post. Look at trends over several weeks before changing course.

What to check now

Work through this for each brand you look after:

1. Look for the feature yourself. Open the three-dot menu on a post in your own Feed and see whether Your algorithm is there. Trying it as a user shows you how people will describe their interests.
2. Write down each brand's topics in customer language. List the handful of subjects each brand covers, phrased the way someone would type them, not the way your marketing plan names them.
3. Review your last few weeks of posts. For each one, ask: could someone tell in the first line what this is about? Rewrite the patterns that fail.
4. Check the balance of promotional posts. If most posts are offers or announcements, plan more that teach, show or entertain.
5. Add a rule to your caption checklist. Something like "first line names the topic" or "no teaser openers" is easy to check before a post goes out. If you use Syndera, each brand profile can hold always-and-never rules, and drafts are checked against the rules before they're scheduled. You can see how that works on the features page.
6. Watch recommended reach, not just total reach. In Meta's insights, keep an eye on how many views come from people who don't follow the Page. That's where this change is most likely to show.

The shift is simple: Facebook is moving from only guessing what people want to also listening to what they say. Posts that say plainly what they're about, and stay true to that, are best placed to be found.

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Source: Meta Newsroom