Search and Horizon Feed Ranking Disclosure
Date of last revision: September 1, 2024
Meta Horizon allows users in the European Economic Area (“Users,” and each a “User”), among other areas, to discover new applications, games, social connections, events, and experiences (collectively, the “Content”) based on a keyword(s) entered by a User in headset or on the mobile app (“Search”). Horizon Feed is a function on the Meta Horizon mobile app and the Meta Quest headsets which suggests new Content amongst other things to Users (“Horizon Feed”). Certain games and apps Meta and its studios develop for Quest have similar functionality to suggest Content within the app or game.
We want the Content that Users see on Search, Horizon Feed, and apps, to be as interesting and useful to them as possible. We may prioritize the following signals, amongst others, to decide what Content to show Users:
- User searches: When a User runs a search on Search, we aim to match Content that are directly relevant to the terms, options, and filters selected by the User. For example, a User could choose to search for “sports” apps that fall within a certain rating, genre, game mode, player mode, app, or sale category.
- Engagement: We rely on signals related to Users’ browsing activity within the Meta Horizon Store, Meta Horizon mobile app, and Meta Quest headsets. For example, we will suggest Content or people based on your previous searches on, or purchases from, the Meta Horizon Store or for in-app Content recommendations, based on your preferences within the app.
- User demographics: We use signals such as a User’s age, location, and language to prioritize certain Content.
- Listing quality: We measure and prioritize the quality of the Content by assessing objective attributes such as whether the Content’s page contains screenshots of high quality and whether the Content such as apps, received a large number of positive reviews.
- User experience: We want to show Users Content that meets their expectations of quality and reliability.
- Content Features: We use the Content’s attributes and platform performance such as the app’s genre, how recently the Content was uploaded, and aggregate purchases to surface the latest and popular apps in a category that Users may be interested in.
In addition, our algorithms weigh signals differently in different contexts. For example, when a User runs a search, the order in which results appear is heavily influenced by the relevance of Content to the User’s query. When a User clicks on a category of Content, the order in which the results are displayed is influenced more by User preferences, as these signals tend to focus more on helping the User discover new Content that may be relevant or useful to that particular User. In addition to the signals listed above, we also use other less influential signals when displaying Content, such as the User’s device (e.g., app, browser, phone, tablet, computer, etc.) and may also highlight or suggest certain Content to Users in connection with seasonality, special events, special engagements or broad consumer interest.