Most people share a Facebook post without boring to read them based on the title of the article alone, some of which are just clickbait headlines. Facebook has announced on Twitter that it will start testing a feature that requests users if they’re sure they want to share an article that they haven’t read or opened yet.
This new feature will come in form of a pop-up that will prompt users to first read or open the article, but they can also choose to continue sharing it if they want. According to a Facebook spokesperson, the test would be rolled out to 6% of Android users worldwide.
Twitter has a similar pop-up, which it started testing in June 2020. Twitter’s implementation of the feature has been annoying to users (me inclusive) who have read the article elsewhere and decide to share it when they see it pop up on their feed.
Starting today, we’re testing a way to promote more informed sharing of news articles. If you go to share a news article link you haven’t opened, we’ll show a prompt encouraging you to open it and read it, before sharing it with others. pic.twitter.com/brlMnlg6Qg
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) May 10, 2021
Facebook says the pop-up is meant to help people be more informed about the articles they share, likely as an attempt to fight the spread of misinformation the platform has struggled with in the past. As the message warns, not opening the article can lead to “missing key facts,” with headlines often not telling the whole story.
