Sometimes the big social networks roll out features (or forget to roll them out) that work for the majority of the users, but just don't make sense to some of us. For example, I'm still trying to figure out why Instagram doesn't have a good way to upload photos from the desktop or why Twitter makes it so hard to switch to desktop view on an iPad or tablet.
Another strange one is the fact that Facebook loves to show you the "Top Stories" that it thinks are important in your life. And while that works for some, there are those of us who prefer to see our feeds in chronological order.
In the desktop view of Facebook, there's an option to change from "Top Stories" to "Most Recent", but Facebook only maintains that setting for about 24 hours and then it automatically reverts back to Top Stories.
Unfortunately, there isn't any way to permanently change this setting in your profile, an option that I feel Facebook has mistakenly overlooked. I'm sure that "Top Stories" probably garner Facebook more opportunities to learn about what's popular or what topics you're more likely to respond to, which can also lead to increased revenue opportunities for them. It also gives them more control over your feed, as opposed to "Most Recent", which simply dictates that the posts will be shown in chronological order.
The good news is that there is an easy way to adjust Facebook so that it ALWAYS shows you the most recent stories.
Instead of using the standard "http://www.facebook.com/" URL to access the site, try clicking this link instead:
https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr
The "?sk" parameter at the end of the URL tells the system to always display the most recent stories - there'll even be a notification at the top of your feed to indicate that you're viewing the most recent posts.
Simply bookmark this URL or add it to your Favorites and you can see your Facebook posts come through in order of posting time.
Unfortunately, I still haven't found a great way to switch Facebook mobile apps over to "Most Recent", but for those of you on Android, if you click the menu icon, you can always select "Most Recent" from your list of available feeds.
In iOS, you can do the same thing by selecting the menu icon at the bottom of the app then choosing More > See More> Feeds > Most Recent.
I know...it's a lot of steps, but it's worth it if you really want to see your feeds in chronological order.
Hopefully that helps those of you who like to see the most recent posts from your friends and family. If you have another or a better way to make this change permanent, definitely share it in the comments.
This post originally appeared on Sean Nicholson's blog.