Facebook splits the Feed on iOS and Android into Home, a TikTok-style tab with recommended content, and Feeds, a chronological tab of followed pages and people

The Verge 2022-07-22 Jon Porter

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook had been moving away from a single mobile News Feed for years, from topic-based feed tests in 2015 to a three-tab News Feed prototype in 2020. The new two-tab design makes that separation explicit: recommendation-led discovery is distinct from posts by accounts people chose to follow.

The change also follows Facebook’s renaming of News Feed to Feed, narrowing the product’s identity while broadening the ways content can be surfaced within it.

First-order effects

Facebook users now enter a Home tab organized around recommended content, while Feeds provides a chronological route to followed people and pages.
Pages and creators gain two different distribution paths on Facebook: algorithmic recommendation in Home and follower-based delivery in Feeds.

Second-order effects

Facebook’s ranking systems become more consequential for creators seeking reach beyond their existing followers, because Home is the discovery surface rather than a chronological list.
TikTok’s recommendation-first feed becomes a clearer product benchmark for Facebook, while Facebook preserves a separate chronological option for users who prioritize following relationships.

Third-order effects

If platforms continue separating discovery from following, the social graph is likely to become one input among distinct feed products rather than the organizing principle of a single main feed.
The durable competition shifts toward recommendation quality and creator discovery, with chronological feeds retained as a user-control layer rather than the default distribution system.

The trend: Social platforms are reorganizing mobile feeds around algorithmic discovery while preserving dedicated chronological spaces for direct follows.

Discussion

@metanewsroom @metanewsroom on x
Mark Zuckerberg just announced a Feeds tab on @facebook, where you can see a chronological feed of posts from those you follow. And when you open Facebook, you'll still see a Home tab where we'll recommend personalized content from creators and friends. https://www.facebook.com/.…
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
New + big change from Facebook: it's going to start putting more recommended content into the main feed from people you don't follow. Just like TikTok. https://www.bloomberg.com/... w @alexbarinka
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
I am old enough to remember when this was called “Facebook' https://twitter.com/...
@richlightshed @richlightshed on x
huge platform searching for a future $meta https://twitter.com/...
@brendannyhan Brendan Nyhan on x
Important: misinformation in the viral videos Meta will now be blasting into your feed is much harder for platforms to detect and for researchers to monitor https://twitter.com/...
@jeeveswilliams @jeeveswilliams on x
with facebook announcing they're swinging way more towards creator content/tiktok-style videos on the news feed and shunting family/friend posts, there're basically no social networks focused on engaging with the people you're closest to, right? it's all group chats now, wild
@brandonsilverm Brandon Silverman on x
@BrendanNyhan It's too politically hard (trying to be neutral means incenting everyone to constantly complain), it's too technically hard (the systems & content move too quickly) and ultimately, the financial upside just isn't that big.
@brendannyhan Brendan Nyhan on x
Reverse-chronological feeds are bad experiences (as Facebook's own data shows) plus the TikTok feed will be the default - both will push people to the glories of stupid viral videos that up time on platform https://twitter.com/...
@brandonsilverm Brandon Silverman on x
@BrendanNyhan I think the more immediate & significant impact is in places (including lot of developing world) where FB operates as quasi-internet. When it becomes more of an entertainment platform, it will mean returning a lot of control of the information ecosystems to legacy g…
@brandonetc Brandon Carter on x
FB has tanked news link performance, crushed the ability of news Pages to reach big audiences and sidelined news Groups. now, the feed is becoming a commerce and video hub. it would probably behoove all of us to figure out if this is a platform worth investing in anymore.
@noupside Renee DiResta on x
I wonder if this curated version is an attempt to better integrate Watch and that sort of viral video content - most of which, from what I've seen, is content-farm garbage (hello Rick Lax) but not really political. FB seems to really be struggling to attract good creators. https:…
@brandonsilverm Brandon Silverman on x
@BrendanNyhan I wouldn't underestimate the degree to which one of lessons that the social media industry is taking from the last few years is that intentionally trying to attract & amplify political discourse just isn't worth it.
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
You cannot be creative if you are not creative: Facebook forsakes friends and family to compete with TikTok https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@brandonetc Brandon Carter on x
time and time again we've adjusted our strategies, our content, even our revenue flow (remember getting paid to do Live videos?) to meet FB's whims, only to have the rug pulled out on us months or years later. this latest change seems like the death knell for news on the platform
@fortunemagazine @fortunemagazine on x
Facebook is changing the way it shows users posts and videos as a part of an effort to better compete with the video app TikTok. https://fortune.com/...
@filip_struharik @filip_struharik on x
Translation: - Newsfeed will be more like TikTok with popular content, you can pointlessly kill time here - New “Feeds” tab will be good old Facebook - Traffic to journalistic content may drop again https://twitter.com/...
@brendannyhan Brendan Nyhan on x
The TikTok-ization of Meta will soon be upon us. Facebook has spent 5+ years since 2016 playing catchup in the battle against misinfo. Now they're unleashing content algorithmically across the world's largest social network regardless of who you follow. What could go wrong? https…
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
facebook's subtle (and not so subtle) nudges towards a more TikTok-y future continue next stop — the “Home” tab, which will soon be filled with more video and reels from suggested, unconnected people and pages https://t.co/Tuy9YxlnSx
@pierce David Pierce on x
Facebook is TikTok now which is Instagram now which is Facebook now which is TikTok now which is Instagram now which is Facebook now which is TikTok now https://www.theverge.com/...
@abuaardvark Marc Lynch on x
When I want recommended content from creators I'll.... I'll never want recommended content from creators. https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Every social app is trending to have an algorithmic & chronological feed side by side. I wonder what the people who claim chronological feeds are the social for every problem on social media are going to blame next? Hint: People are the problem not feeds. https://www.theverge.com…
@aria_gerson Aria Gerson on x
does facebook realize that the reason 90% of young people even still have an account anymore is for messenger and groups https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
Facebook, having copied all it can from Snapchat and TikTok, is now copying features from... 2008-era Facebook. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@fboversight @fboversight on x
New: Facebook announces it's turning Facebook into a TikTok copycat because user growth is down and this is the best idea they can come up with. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@baekdal Thomas Baekdal on x
We have reached a point where we can't call these things social ‘networks’ anymore. They have become low-intent entertainment channels, but there is really no ‘networking’ anymore. https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
This point is spot on. AKA Facebook is in chaos. CEO and COO ordered for depositions in CA federal court for its largest data breach coverup plus insider trading in DE, lost more than half of market cap based on $10B guesstimate of revenue impact from privacy crackdowns. Chaos.
@dandrezner Daniel W. Drezner on x
Note to self: switch to separate chronological feed. https://twitter.com/...
@jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x
Interesting! Manipulation is the main feed, where algorithms are in charge. Communication is the alternate. There humans roam. https://twitter.com/...
@sarafischer Sara Fischer on x
💡By teasing most content from friends out of main feed, FB's experience will look/feel more like a content discovery engine than a social network —That shift will help it lean more into intent-based shopping & search advertising, which is less vulnerable to privacy regulation htt…
@teepusahab Anas Tipu on x
Meta announced major changes - Facebook app that will transform its experience into a more TikTok-like selection of algorithmically chosen videos — and shunt off content posted by family, friends and groups into a separate side feed. https://www.axios.com/...
@domdifurio Dom DiFurio on x
“Beginning Thursday, Facebook's main Home screen will begin to look and feel a lot more like TikTok.” https://www.axios.com/...
@kerrymflynn Kerry Flynn on x
Excited for my Facebook feed to look exactly like my Instagram feed and my TikTok feed aka puppy videos... only puppy videos https://www.axios.com/...
@sarafischer Sara Fischer on x
NEW on @axios: Significant changes coming to @facebook app to transform its main feed into a more TikTok-like selection of algorithmically chosen content — and shunt off posts posted by family, friends and groups into a separate chronological feed: https://www.axios.com/...
@jaredlholt Jared Holt on x
I've long felt a reason social media lost its novel appeal and sense of wonder has to do with platforms all gunning to be *the* platform by essentially mirroring each other. The experience is homogenous enough anymore that everything feels stale, imo! https://www.axios.com/...

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