How to Tell Facebook What You Want to See With the Your Algorithm Feature

Open Facebook after a busy week and the feed can feel like it belongs to someone else. One video about a hobby you watched half of three months ago has somehow become your entire personality, according to the algorithm. Meanwhile, posts from friends, local groups, and topics you genuinely care about are buried under content you never asked for.

For years, the only real tools you had were indirect: like this, hide that, snooze someone, and hope the system got the hint. Facebook’s Your Algorithm feature changes that relationship. Covered in October 2026 reporting, it lets users tell Facebook directly what topics they want to see more of and what they want to see less of in their feed. Instead of guessing from your clicks, Facebook is asking you outright.

That is one of the most direct controls a major platform has offered over its recommendations, and it is worth ten minutes if your feed feels noisy or obsessed with one subject. This guide explains what it does and how to use it step by step.

Quick Answer

To tell Facebook what you want to see with the Your Algorithm feature, open Facebook, go to the Your Algorithm controls in your feed or settings, review the topics Facebook thinks you like, and tell it which subjects you want more of and which you want less of, then save your choices. Your feed then adjusts around those stated interests. Revisit the list every few months, because your interests change faster than old signals fade.

What Your Algorithm Actually Changes

Traditionally, Facebook has inferred your interests from behaviour: what you watch, pause on, search for, and interact with. Inference is powerful, but it is also noisy. Watching one gardening video out of politeness can signal an interest you do not really have, and the system may keep serving gardening content for weeks.

Your Algorithm adds your stated preferences on top of that inferred picture. You can confirm topics you genuinely enjoy, add interests the system has not noticed yet, and push down subjects you are tired of, even if you clicked them once. It does not turn Facebook into a purely chronological feed, and it does not remove ads or recommendations entirely. It gives your explicit choices real weight inside the ranking.

Things You Can Typically Steer

• More of this: Topics such as local news, cooking, football, technology, or parenting that you want appearing regularly.
• Less of this: Subjects you find repetitive, upsetting, or simply boring, regardless of past clicks.
• Topics Facebook got wrong: Inferred interests based on one-off viewing that you can correct instead of waiting for them to fade.
• New interests: Subjects you have recently taken up, which your old viewing history knows nothing about yet.

For Meta’s own description of new feed controls as they launch, check Meta’s official newsroom at About Meta. Feature names and placement can shift during rollout, so the newsroom and Facebook’s help pages are the most reliable reference if your menus look slightly different.

Before You Start: A Two-Minute Feed Audit

Scroll your feed for two minutes and notice patterns. Write down three topics you want more of and three you want less of. That list makes the controls quick to use. Also update the Facebook app — new controls arrive through updates and staged rollouts.

Step-by-Step: Use Your Algorithm to Shape Your Feed

1. Open Facebook and go to your feed controls. From your main feed or profile menu, look for settings related to your feed preferences and open the Your Algorithm section where it is available on your account.
2. Review the topics Facebook associates with you. Read the interest list carefully. Expect a few surprises: most people find at least one topic earned from a single video they barely remember watching.
3. Mark topics you want to see more of. Go through your prepared list first and select your genuine interests, such as specific sports, hobbies, local topics, or professional subjects.
4. Add interests Facebook has missed. If there is an option to add or search topics, include new interests, especially recent ones your history cannot know about yet.
5. Mark topics you want to see less of. Be honest and specific. Reducing a topic is more effective than hoping it goes away, and it does not require unfollowing friends who occasionally post about it.
6. Remove or correct wrong inferred interests. Where the controls allow it, delete topics that are simply not you. This is the fastest single cleanup most people can make.
7. Save your changes and return to your feed. Give the feed a little time and normal use to reflect the new signals. The shift is gradual rather than an instant reset.
8. Check the results over the next few days. Notice whether your chosen topics appear more and the reduced ones fade. If one subject is still dominating, go back and strengthen that instruction.
9. Combine it with post-level controls. On individual posts, keep using the options to hide a post or see less of a type of content. Those small signals support your Your Algorithm choices.
10. Set a reminder to review quarterly. Interests change with seasons, projects, and life. A short review every few months keeps the feed aligned with who you are now.

Choosing Topics That Actually Improve Your Feed

The best lists are specific and honest. More technology is vague; more practical phone tips and AI tools is a direction the system can act on. Less news is vague; less celebrity gossip is precise. Whenever the controls allow a narrower topic, choose the narrower one.

Be honest, too, about the difference between what you enjoy and what merely traps your attention. Many people realise their feed is full of outrage and arguments not because they like them, but because they pause on them. Your Algorithm is your chance to vote for the feed you want on purpose, not the one your worst scrolling habits built by accident.

We regularly cover practical social platform controls like this on NetworkUstad for everyday social media users, focusing on settings that make a visible difference rather than buried toggles.

A Balanced Example List

• More: Local community news, home cooking, Premier League football, personal finance basics, photography tips.
• Less: Celebrity arguments, graphic viral clips, repetitive prank videos, topics tied to a finished project or past job.
• Removed: A hobby inferred from one gift-shopping session, a TV show you watched once at someone else’s house.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Expecting an instant, total transformation. Your stated preferences are strong signals, but they work alongside your ongoing behaviour. Give the feed several days of normal use before judging the result.

Selecting everything you have ever liked. A list of forty more-of topics is almost the same as no list at all. Prioritise the handful of subjects you truly want daily, so the signal stays clear.

Reducing a topic but still engaging with it constantly. If you keep watching and commenting on content you marked for less, your behaviour argues with your settings. Align the two, and the feed settles much faster.

Confusing topic controls with following controls. Your Algorithm steers subjects and recommendations. It does not replace following Pages, joining Groups, or adjusting notifications for close friends whose posts you never want to miss.

Setting it once and forgetting it forever. A list written around last year’s interests will quietly become wrong. The quarterly review is part of the feature’s value, not an optional extra.

Extra Habits That Keep Your Feed Healthy

Use strong positive signals deliberately: comment, save, or share posts that genuinely earn it. When a reduced topic keeps resurfacing through one Page, adjust that source directly. Remember, these controls apply per account, so they do not change another family member’s feed.

Conclusion

Facebook’s Your Algorithm feature is a welcome shift from pure guesswork to an actual conversation about your feed. You review the topics Facebook thinks you like, state plainly what you want more and less of, and let ranking work with your instructions instead of only your accidental clicks.

Set it up with a short, honest, specific list, support it with consistent everyday behaviour, and revisit it every few months. Ten minutes of direction now can save you months of scrolling past a feed built for someone you used to be, or never were at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Your Algorithm remove ads from my feed?

No. The feature steers topics and recommended content in your feed; it is not an ad blocker. Ad preferences are managed separately in Facebook’s ad settings, although reducing a topic can influence the kinds of content that appear around ads.

How quickly will my feed change after I set my topics?

Expect a gradual shift over days of normal use rather than an instant reset. Your saved preferences are strong signals, but Facebook combines them with ongoing behaviour, so consistent scrolling habits help the new settings take effect faster.

Why do I not see Your Algorithm on my account yet?

Update the Facebook app first. Features like this commonly roll out in stages by region and account, so if the option is still missing, it likely has not reached you yet. Meta’s newsroom is the best place to confirm rollout announcements.

Can I undo a topic I marked for less?

Yes. Your choices are preferences, not permanent bans. Reopen the Your Algorithm controls at any time and move a topic back to neutral or to more-of. Regular small adjustments are exactly how the feature is meant to be used.

Does using Your Algorithm stop Facebook tracking my activity?

No. It gives your stated preferences weight in feed ranking, but it is not a privacy switch and does not change Facebook’s broader data settings. Manage those separately in your privacy and ad preferences if that is your goal.