# Facebook "Your Algorithm": writing posts the topic ranker can place (Oct 2026)

Topic: on 13 Oct 2026 Meta brought "Your Algorithm" to Facebook. People now type the topics they want more or less of, in their own words, and an LLM-assisted ranker maps posts to those topics. A page with a tiny following needs its posts to land clearly in a topic people choose.

## What Meta has published (read in full)
- **Meta Newsroom, "Your Algorithm, Your Words" (Oct 2026):**
  - A **Your algorithm** space (three-dot menu) where people **add and manage topics** for Feed and Reels.
  - After **Interested / Not interested**, Facebook may ask **follow-up questions**, and people can say in their own words what they want more or less of. Recommendations update **in real time, within the same session**.
  - Ranking already reads thousands of signals (likes, comments, watching). Now **LLMs combine free-text preferences** with those signals.
  - The three-dot menu on every post was updated to reach these controls.
- **TechCrunch, 13 Oct 2026 (read):** Facebook launch on Tuesday 13 Oct. Instagram added Your Algorithm for Reels in Dec 2025 and extended it to Feed/Explore in June 2026. Threads has a related "Dear Algo".
- **No practitioner numbers yet.** The Facebook feature is two weeks old; we found no before/after reach data from page owners. Anything below is **reasoned from the published mechanism, not measured**. Our own monthly measurement is the test.

## What it changes for a small page (inference, not checked)
- Free-text topics reward posts whose **words and visuals clearly say what they are about**. An LLM ranker reads captions, on-screen text and probably speech; vague or clever captions are harder to place.
- People can now **remove topics** in one tap. Off-topic or bait posts risk a "Not interested", and the follow-up may suppress the whole topic for that viewer.
- Niche interests ("Welsh history", "old maps", "medieval villages", "local history Vale of Glamorgan") are now easy for a person to ask for by name. A page that is clearly *the* source for one niche can be matched to people who never followed it.

## How to do it (steps)
1. **Pick 3 topic phrases** people would type, and use them verbatim and consistently: e.g. "Welsh history", "old maps of Wales", "Vale of Glamorgan local history".
2. **First line of every caption names the topic and the record** in plain words ("Welsh history: an 1824 estate survey map of a Vale of Glamorgan farm"). No clickbait openers.
3. **Burn the topic into on-screen text** for Reels (first 2 s) and say it in the narration. The ranker and the viewer both get it.
4. **Stay on-topic.** One page, one niche. Off-niche posts (memes, unrelated news) go elsewhere or not at all; each risks a "Not interested".
5. **Use series names** ("One record, 30 seconds", "Field names of Tŷ Mawr") so posts cluster under one recognisable theme.
6. **No engagement bait** ("comment YES", "tag 3 friends"). It was already demoted, and now viewers can say so in words.
7. **Measure monthly in Meta Business Suite**: reach split followers / non-followers, Reels non-follower plays, "Not interested"/hide counts where shown. Compare the month before 13 Oct with each month after.

## How we apply it to Cedwyn
- **Low-risk now (wording discipline, no new channel or page):** the social workers' caption template gains a fixed first line, *"<topic phrase>: <record + year + place>"*. Examples:
  - "Welsh history: the 1824 David Stewart estate survey, the first record mention found of Tŷ Mawr."
  - "Vale of Glamorgan local history: the family acquired Tŷ Mawr in 1667 (1974 newspapers; ITV News 1988)."
  This changes how existing posts are worded, not what they say, so it can go to the BIZDEV brief as a caption rule. **If the owner treats caption templates as public-facing, it is a PROPOSAL.**
- Check the 12 posts queued for 27-29 Oct: each first line names one of the 3 topic phrases; drop or rewrite anything off-niche.
- Add a monthly row to the growth report: FB non-follower reach %, Reels non-follower plays, hides. Baseline = Sep 15 – Oct 12 2026.
- Do not ask followers to "add Welsh history to Your Algorithm". It's unproven, and it reads as bait.
- Public text: no owner name, no banned words, no Bute-era dates.

## Sources
- about.fb.com (read, 26 Oct 2026)
- techcrunch.com (read)
- facebook.com (snippet)