Meta Platforms is introducing a tab that harkens back to Facebook’s original purpose to help keep users updated in one place, of what is going in the lives of friends and family.
On Thursday Meta announced in a blog post that it is “introducing a new Facebook Friends tab that makes it easier to connect with your friends.” CEO Mark Zuckerberg meanwhile also posted a short video of the new tab.
It comes after people’s Facebook news feeds have over the years has become increasingly clustered with adverts, short videos (aka Reels), and recommended content that the Facebook algorithm increasingly thinks the user may like.
Image credit Meta Platforms.
Friends tab
The new Facebook Friends tab is part of Mark Zuckerberg’s pitch to revive the original spirit of his social networking app, or “OG Facebook”.
The Friends tab on Facebook will now show content just from a user’s Facebook friends, with no recommended content (but presumably adverts will still appear).
“This is the first of several experiences coming this year that will bring back the joy of what we first created on Facebook,” said the platform.
“Connecting with friends has been a part of Facebook since it launched,” it stated. “Over the years, Facebook evolved to meet changing needs and created best-in-class experiences across Groups, Video, Marketplace and more, but the magic of friends has fallen away. We’ll be adding several ‘OG’ Facebook experiences throughout the year, beginning with the revamped Friends tab.”
The platform said the move is make it easier for people to find their friends’ content on Facebook. The new tab is available this week in the United States and Canada.
But there is no word at the time of writing on when the feature will arrive in UK, Europe and other countries.
Notable change
The new or updated Friends tab is a notable departure from the current Facebook feed, which is still the primary route for users to interact with content on Facebook.
The Friends tab in Facebook was previously the tab view where friend requests and ‘People You May Know’ or Friend Requests’ could be viewed.
“Social media should feel social,” said Meta. “In that spirit, we’ll be adding more fun, simple experiences to help you connect and share on Facebook throughout the year.”
Image credit Meta Platforms.
Bending the knee
The move comes amid concerns of a user exodus to rival offerings such as Bluesky, after Mark Zuckerberg made a series of changes that shifted the platform to the right and the Trump administration.
Meta for example has disbanded its diversity, equity and inclusion team, and also made a number of controversial changes impacting content moderation on the platform.
Other examples include Zuckerberg confirming in January that the platform was dropping third-party fact-checking in favour of Community Notes.
Earlier in March Zuckerberg announced the platform would begin testing its new Community Notes content moderation tool across Facebook, Instagram and Threads from Tuesday 18 March.
In addition, Meta also confirmed it is initially using X’s open source algorithm as the basis of its rating system – a move that will do little to limit the concerns of staff, campaigners and members of its Oversight Board.
Other moves have seen Zuckerberg donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, and Zuckerberg having dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.
Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg (former a UK deputy prime minister) also left Meta, and was replaced by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican.
Meta Platforms also elected a close friend of Donald Trump to its board of directors, along with two others.