How To Keep Local News From The Patch In Your Facebook Feed

You've likely heard by now that Facebook will make several changes to its News Feed over the next few months in an effort to increase personal connections on the social media platform. That means you'll start to see more posts from your friends and family. It also means you'll see less stories from the news outlets you follow.

"By focusing on bringing people closer together — whether it's with family and friends, or around important moments in the world — we can help make sure that Facebook is time well spent," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

While more contact with your loved ones is always a good thing, being left in the dark when it comes to breaking news is not a thumbs-up situation. The simplest way to make sure you don't miss out on local news from Patch is to download our new app for iOS or app for Android.

Next, there's an easy way to make sure your local Patch news doesn't get buried in Facebook's new-and-improved feed. Just follow these simple steps to make Patch stories appear first in your feed no matter what, so you always know what's happening in your neighborhood:

On Desktop:

Step #1: Once you're logged into Facebook, click the News Feed button on the lefthand toolbar.

Step #2: Click the three dots next to the News Feed button to see additional options and choose "Edit Preferences."

Step #3: Click "Prioritize who to see first" to bring up a list of Facebook pages and profiles you like.

Step #4: Select your local Patch Facebook page by scrolling through the list or filtering by "Pages Only." You'll see a blue star next to the page once you've selected it.

On Your Mobile Device:

Step #1: Open the Facebook app and select the three horizontal bars to the right of the toolbar.

Step #2: Scroll to the bottom and select "Settings" from the menu.

Step #3: Select "News Feed Preferences" from the popup menu that appears.

Step #4: Click "Prioritize who to see first" to bring up a list of Facebook pages and profiles you like.

Step #5: Select your local Patch Facebook page by scrolling through the list of pages or using the search bar, which will appear at the top once you start scrolling. You'll see a blue star next to the page once you've selected it.

First Photo: Eraldo Peres/AP