Facebook goes old school with a new feed that favors friends and family
- Called "Feeds," the tool is a dedicated tab in the Facebook app that shows all the latest posts from users' friends.
- The main news feed will now be known as "Home," and will act as more of a "discovery engine" based on people's online habits.
- It's a nod to a more basic social media experience where the experience was more focused on activity from friends and family.
Facebook is launching a new feature on Thursday that lets users see posts in reverse chronological order rather than content that's been ranked by an algorithm.
Called "Feeds," the tool is a dedicated tab in the Facebook app that shows all the latest posts from users' friends. The main news feed will now be known as "Home," and will act as more of a "discovery engine" based on people's online habits, the company said.
"One of the most requested features for Facebook is to make sure people don't miss friends' posts. So today we're launching a Feeds tab where you can see posts from your friends, groups, Pages and more separately in chronological order," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post Thursday.
Meta is increasingly pushing Zuckerberg as the face of its latest product reveals, with the firm's founder announcing multiple new feature updates on Facebook. The company has lost several top executives lately, from long-time Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer.
The feature is set to roll out globally over the next week, initially on mobile, a Meta spokesperson said. A desktop version is slated for release in the next several weeks.
It's a nod to a more basic social media experience from the past — pioneered by none other than Facebook itself — where the feed was more focused on activity from friends and family.
By making the main "Home" tab more personalized, Meta is also competing with TikTok. Meta is trying to emulate the Chinese-owned video app's success with younger "Gen Z" internet users, which has largely been driven by its addictive recommendation algorithm.
Home will include Reels, Meta's TikTok clone, as well as Stories and other personalized content.
Facebook, Google and other Big Tech companies are under fierce scrutiny from regulators over the way their platforms have reshaped society. Among the most contentious issues at hand is the use of people's personal data to amplify posts that fuel the most engagement, such as fake news, as well as targeted advertising.