Facebook’s Revamp

Introduction to Changes

Meta has been revamping Facebook’s main feed over the past few years, transforming it into a "discovery engine" that primarily showcases recommended content from unfamiliar pages, groups, and accounts. This change, although aimed at competing with TikTok, has been met with frustration from Facebook users who miss seeing posts from people they actually know.

The Revamped "Friends" Section

In an effort to address this issue, Meta is introducing a revamped "Friends" section of the app. This updated section will exclusively display posts and content related to the user’s Facebook friends. The company claims that this update is the first of many aimed at bringing back "OG" features to the 21-year-old social network.

New Features

The "Friends" tab, previously used only for friend requests, will now feature a feed consisting entirely of friend-related content. This includes feed posts, Story posts, Reels, birthdays, friend requests, and "people you may know" suggestions. While Meta frames this change as part of a broader push to make Facebook feel more "social," it’s not the first time the company has offered dedicated feeds for "friend-only" content.

History of Dedicated Feeds

In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg showcased a dedicated "friends" feed as part of the company’s effort to bring more recommendations to users’ "home" feeds. This feed, which surfaces posts from friends in reverse chronological order, is still available but somewhat buried in the app.

Future Plans

It’s unclear what other "OG" Facebook features Meta plans to revive, potentially playing on nostalgia for the 21-year-old social network. However, it’s apparent that this is a priority for Zuckerberg. He expressed his enthusiasm for rebuilding past joyful experiences that once made Facebook unique but no longer exist on the internet today.

Conclusion

In a podcast appearance promoting the change, Zuckerberg highlighted the opportunity to reintroduce these features, stating, "I actually think that there’s this whole opportunity that I think is going to be pretty fun to go after and build which is just to kind of go one-by-one and build up a bunch of these things that used to be these joyful experiences that people had as part of Facebook that just kind of don’t exist on the internet today."