So you’re adamant that you hate the Kardashians. So much so, in fact, that you enjoy writing comments on posts saying “why am I seeing this? I hate _____! Why is that all I ever see on Facebook!”, or some other form of complaint, stemming from your distaste of seeing too much of one kind of topic on Facebook – even moreso successful women (do we sound a little bitter? Ignore it and keep reading).

Believe me, you’re not alone. But there’s a reason behind why you’re seeing so much celebrity gossip, a lack of hard hitting articles, or a seemingly unnecessary amount of one topic on your Facebook Newsfeed.

The reason is simple: You have interacted with enough of this topic (clicking into articles, tagging friends in posts, liking posts and commenting etc) that Facebook now believes you have an interest in it. And it’s a fair assumption to make. Every time you comment on a post about the Kardashians in an effort to tell everyone you hate the Kardashians, all you are achieving is to tell Facebook that you like to interact with this content. And Facebook reeeally wants you to interact with its content.

This is where Facebook finds your ad preferences, and logs them down, so that whenever a Facebook advertiser targets a post at people with an interest in “Kardashians” or “celebrity gossip” or any number of similar topics, Facebook will put you down to be on the receiving end.

Now, while I’m personally of the mind that the Kardashians are doing you no harm, and that you should probably just stop talking so much about how you dislike them, I also understand that the Facebook algorithm is flawed.

While I have never felt the urge to comment on any post saying “I don’t particularly enjoy heavy metal” or “video games are confusing and I can’t quite take to them”, I can still see myself being targeted with adverts on these topics. Facebook is not foolproof, and will get confused.

Luckily, there’s a work around.

Facebook will never force you to be stuck with the ad settings it’s given you.

If you’re interested in finding out what crazy interests Facebook has deduced from your activity, or if you’re interested in changing your preferences to make sure you see less of certain topics, then head to your Ad Preferences:

https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences

From there you can go through all the categories, have a laugh at some of the ridiculous assumptions Facebook has made, or even have a spring clean, by clicking the little X button on top of any interests you want to get rid of.

From there, ideally, your Facebook Newsfeed should be a much happier place – but if you find yourself still plagued by topics or figures you’d rather not see, just select the little arrow on the top right of any posts you want to remove, and there will be options to hide the post, see less of posts similar to it, or even find out why you are seeing this post in the first place.

Hopefully this blog post has shed some light on why certain celebrities or topics might be following you around social media – but if in doubt, DO NOT ENGAGE! Stop commenting or reacting to posts you don’t want to see, and Facebook may just take the hint.

Happy Facebooking,

Xoxo Morgan