Lately, a bunch of posts have been floating around Facebook that say something like this:

It’s a hoax!

Facebook does NOT have an algorithm that limits delivery of your posts to 25 friends. It does have a limiting algorithm—which I’ll explain with some legitimate workarounds—but the post above is bogus.

Besides, the post is just telling you to copy-and-paste the message and send it to your friends. The instructions make it seem like some devious hack. But it’s not.

The good news? The hoax won’t lead to identity theft, account hijacking, or other security nightmares. It’s only an annoyance.

To be clear, Facebook does limit how many friends see your posts…but there’s no specific number like 25. The algorithm is based on which friends you engage with most. So if you think certain friends aren’t getting your posts, then like, share, or comment on their posts! (You may have to visit their pages if you’re not already getting their posts in your news feed.) The interaction should prompt Facebook to deliver your posts to their news feeds, and vice versa.

Similarly, you might want to see more of your friends’ posts. You can control this 100%! You have two options:

1. In the top left corner of your home page (the page that shows your news feed), click on the three dots next to News Feed. In the dropdown menu, click on Most Recent. You’ll now see ALL the posts you’ve been missing!
2. Instead of selecting Most Recent, click on Edit Preferences in the same dropdown menu. Then click on Prioritize who to see first. You can choose which friends you want to hear from, which may be different than what the algorithm originally chose.

Remember to trust your gut if something seems suspicious. This applies to Facebook, Instagram, all other social media sites, and everything else in life!

If you have questions about something you see (at least in the digital marketing world), reach out to me at brooke@deshoutout.com. I’ll do my best to set the record straight. 😀