The Facebook Mom Problem Is Real. My mom loves me. But she also “likes” me—a lot. And apparently, when she does so on Facebook, it’s hurting my chances of becoming the next viral sensation.

On his blog, engineer Chris Aldrich explains what he calls The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem. When you post something on Facebook, and your mom is the first to like it (and how can she not? Facebook thinks it’s a family- related piece of content and sets the audience accordingly. Facebook’s process for determining what goes into your News Feed is frustratingly opaque. However,…Read more Read. Here’s Aldrich’s dilemma: I write my content on my own personal site.

On Wednesday, Facebook announced the rollout of Watch, what it is calling “a new platform for shows on Facebook.” It’s yet another foray by the social media. · Facebook Inc. financial and business news, updates, and information from The New York Times and other leading providers. My mom loves me. But she also “likes” me—a lot. And apparently, when she does so on Facebook, it’s hurting my chances of becoming the next viral sensation.

I automatically syndicate it to Facebook. My mom, who seems to be on Facebook 2. The Facebook algorithm immediately thinks that because my mom liked it, it must be a family related piece of content–even if it’s obviously about theoretical math, a subject in which my mom has no interest or knowledge. My mom has about 1. Facebook; 4. 5 of them overlap with mine and the vast majority of those are close family members).

It isn't all about about Netflix and Hulu. If you are looking for more places to watch TV online, here are five apps you've probably never heard of.

Facebook is testing a snooze function that mutes a page for a certain period, rather than forever. This would be even more useful on Twitter, where usually lovely.

The algorithm narrows the presentation of the content down to very close family. Then my mom’s sister sees it and clicks “like” moments later. Now Facebook’s algorithm has created a self- fulfilling prophesy and further narrows the audience of my post. As a result, my post gets no further exposure on Facebook other than perhaps five people–the circle of family that overlaps in all three of our social graphs. I, too, have a like- happy mom.

Two seconds after I post a story I’ve written—say, a 3,0. She hasn’t read it, and probably never will, but she likes seeing her daughter’s face on her computer, and really, who can protest the unconditional support? But because of her eager click, Facebook lumps the content in with my photos of Baby’s First Avocado, and shows it only to a small group of family members. While early likes by other relatives may have a similar effect, Aldrich says the algorithm problem does seem to be mostly mom- oriented. Until Facebook stops penalizing mom auto- likes, Aldrich writes that you can sidestep the problem with a little extra effort. Here’s how to make sure your Facebook posts reach an audience beyond Mom, Aunt Susie and Uncle Ken in Kansas. Set the privacy settings of your post to either “Friends except mom” or “Public except mom.”I know what you’re thinking.

How awful! How can you do that to your own mother? Did you know that birthing you took 3. Millennials! Wait, wait, wait, everyone. There’s a step two. Watch Critters Full Movie there.

At the end of the day, or as soon as it seems as though the post reached its maximum audience, change the audience settings to “friends” or “public.” Aldrich has been doing this, and has been seeing more impressions on his posts. I’m happy to report that generally the intended audience which I wanted to see the post actually sees it,” he writes. Mom just gets to see it a bit later.” The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem Boffo Socko.

Facebook's New Watch Tab Does Not Look Like a You. Tube Killer at All. On Wednesday, Facebook announced the rollout of Watch, what it is calling “a new platform for shows on Facebook.” It’s yet another foray by the social media company from the business of distributing other people’s content into producing and licensing its own, and differs from its existing video content in that it looks a lot like Netflix or You.

Tube’s apps. Watch content will be “produced exclusively for it by partners,” who will take 5. That content will be spread via channels like “Most Talked About” or “What’s Making People Laugh” categories that will be determined by how users interact with it. Watch will offer both a live comment feed where users can interact with the wider Facebook audience—something that already exists with Facebook Live streams—and the ability to “participate in a dedicated Facebook Group for the show.”Here’s a few shots of what it will look like on various formats, as shown in the press release. It definitely looks slick and polished, but even this initial glimpse hints that Watch is not the You.

Tube or Snapchat killer Facebook wants it to be. Facebook’s launch programming for the new video section is, uh, not exactly the A- list talent one might think a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars could secure. It includes Nas Daily, a show from a guy who quit his job to make one- minute travel videos “together with his fans from around the world” (a preview clip is titled “We Bought 1. Burgers”); a live show where motivational speaker Gabby Bernstein will interact with Facebook users; a cooking show where children will attempt to make a recipe; and in probably Facebook’s biggest grab, one live game of Major League Baseball a week. Another show mentioned in the launch is Returning the Favor, where host Mike Rowe “finds people doing something extraordinary for their community, tells the world about it, and in turn does something extraordinary for them.” Yet another focuses on “the passion and community of big- time high school football in Texas.”There’s a few more interesting options, like a NASA science show, and a live Nat Geo Wild safari program. But none of this seems particularly edgy or hard- hitting. It’s the definition of safe.

This is the kind of generic filler that forms so much of You. Tube’s bread and butter—but if that’s all they have lined up, what could possibly lure people from You.

Tube itself, which has long been pumping out much more interesting content tailored to virtually every niche interest and community? Facebook’s content strategy is almost certainly to prove functionality and its ability to drive users to the service, and then try to lure other content producers to the service. But like a number of Facebook products before it, it’s unclear why publishers would want to use the platform. For example, Facebook Live already allows publishers to stream content like protests or post- Game of Thrones commentary live to their pages. They can also push regular video content wherever they want without an exclusive deal, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or You. Tube, and all three of these channels can be embedded elsewhere.

Another goal could be to compete with Snapchat, which lots of publishers have started using to push short- form video content. But it’s not clear how Watch will get those users to return by replicating some of Snapchat’s functionality, especially since the latter company’s video content tends to be in reality or unscripted formats which seem nicely in tune with its overall aesthetic. This looks a lot like Facebook’s attempt to push publishers into the same kind of walled garden they built with Instant Articles. Large sections of the media were spooked it was a prelude to Facebook choking off traffic to other websites—why would Facebook let you link out when they can force you to live in the garden, right?—but the concept has stalled somewhat, as Instant wasn’t driving enough additional traffic to offset its lower advertising revenue. Facebook has a tendency to build platforms it just loses interest in. Instant is still around, but in a diminished role as Facebook tweaked its algorithm to drive users to friends’ posts, video content and most recently another story format to compete with Snapchat.

In the past few days, it’s killed off its standalone Facebook Groups app and Lifestage, a “high schoolers only” Snapchat knockoff that ended up ranked #1,3. App Store’s social media category. It’s certainly possible Watch will help Facebook swallow more and more of the internet into its ever- expanding gullet. But supplying a nice- looking video platform does not automatically create demand, and Facebook has repeatedly stumbled to create a business model that will keep both users and publishers inside of it instead of clicking out. We’ll see. No word on whether Donald Trump’s “real news” program will get a slot, but we doubt it.[Facebook]* Correction: Wednesday, not Tuesday.