Facebook wants to 'return to its roots'.

Facebook's new feature only shows posts from friends, offering an experience similar to its early days.

A news feed dedicated to friends on Facebook. Photo: Meta .

Meta has just announced the addition of a separate news feed called Friends on the Facebook app, which only displays posts from friends and family.

Users access the Friends tab from the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Posts in the news feed are scrollable, focusing on images, videos , text, stories, birthday announcements, and friend requests.

The feature is currently being tested for Facebook users in the US and Canada. According to Meta, this is a way to return to Facebook's original mission of connecting people through the social network experience.

"This is the idea of ​​a place where friends can gather, like the 'magic' of the early days of social media..."

"We're making sure this element remains on Facebook. It shouldn't disappear in the context of today's modern, mixed social media landscape," Tom Alison, Facebook's vice president, told the New York Times .

The news feed from friends is one of the biggest changes from how Facebook has evolved over the past decade. The popularity of platforms like TikTok has made users accustomed to getting updates from strangers, such as influencers or content creators.

Not only Facebook, but other Meta apps like Instagram also rely more heavily on suggested content to keep users engaged for longer.

Not everyone supports this trend. When Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004, the website's goal was to connect school students. After gaining popularity, Facebook helped users stay updated with friends and family.

By 2022, many people protested when Zuckerberg announced that he would be inserting content from strangers into the Facebook news feed. After receiving much criticism, Meta reduced the frequency of displaying content from strangers in the news feed.

Of course, Meta still applies algorithm-recommended content. In recent years, Facebook and Instagram feeds have been "overwhelmed" by content from creators, businesses, and brands. The company says that recommended content like Reels or videos keeps users on the app longer.

The content in the Friends section includes posts from friends, birthday announcements, and friend requests. Photo: Meta .

In October 2024, Facebook implemented a series of changes aimed at Gen Z, focusing on connecting users with communities, groups, and videos. By January of this year, Zuckerberg stated that "returning to OG Facebook" (the early days of Facebook) was one of his main goals for 2025.

"Over the years, Facebook has evolved to meet changing needs, delivering the best experience in features like Groups, Video, Marketplace... but the magic of friends is gone," Facebook admitted.

Nevertheless, Meta will still focus on algorithm-recommended content. "Currently, the company doesn't expect the Friends tab to become more popular than the Home feed in terms of suggested content," the New York Times reported.

In the future, Meta plans to launch a series of new features to keep Facebook "social" like it used to be.

"That remains the core of Facebook," Alison emphasized.

Source: https://znews.vn/facebook-muon-tro-ve-ban-nga-post1541421.html