Facebook rebrands News Feed to just Feed after more than 15 years

The ‘News Feed’ is now just the ‘Feed’ — Meta is changing the name of Facebook's News Feed, the primary part of the service that users scroll through to see what their friends and family have shared.

The Verge 2022-02-16 Mitchell Clark

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook had already been reshaping the product behind the label: users were given direct controls over what appeared, while the 2018 overhaul shifted priority toward posts shared by friends and away from publishers and brands. The new name matters because it removes a news-specific frame from the service’s central surface.

That broader label fits the subsequent separation of a recommendation-heavy Home feed and a chronological Feeds view, as well as later controls that let people tune posts from friends, Groups, and Pages to inform AI ranking.

First-order effects

Meta’s product language, help materials, and user-facing references shift from “News Feed” to “Feed,” while the underlying scrolling surface remains the primary place users see shared posts.
Facebook users encounter a neutral label that no longer defines the surface around news, even as it continues to aggregate friends’ and family’s content.

Second-order effects

The renamed surface gives Meta cleaner terminology for presenting multiple kinds of distribution—including followed content and recommendations—under one product family.
Publishers and brands lose another piece of the product’s news-oriented framing, consistent with Facebook’s earlier move to de-emphasize their posts relative to friend interactions.

Third-order effects

Facebook’s central feed is evolving from a socially defined news stream into a configurable distribution layer, with chronological following and algorithmic recommendation treated as distinct modes.
If Meta continues to refine ranking through user controls, the durable contest shifts from whether a feed is “news” to who sets the mix of followed, social, and recommended content.

The trend: Social platforms are recasting the feed as a broader recommendation and control surface rather than a destination defined by news.

Discussion

@facebookapp @facebookapp on x
Starting today, our News Feed will now be known as “Feed.” Happy scrolling! https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
From fb comms: “This is just a name change to better reflect the diverse content people see on their Feeds. This is just a name change and does not impact the app experience more broadly.” https://twitter.com/...
@paperghost Chris Boyd on x
this is the funniest goddamn thing https://gizmodo.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
per a memo to Facebook employees described to me, the company said it's dropping “news” from “news feed” because “news” led people to think there would be news stories but not necessarily posts by friends (rationale makes sense, but like, the News Feed is a 16-year-old product)
@juddlegum Judd Legum on x
Facebook's News Feed has a bunch of far-right propaganda masquerading as news. So they've renamed it “Feed” Problem solved! https://twitter.com/...
@ichbinilya Ilya Lozovsky on x
this would feel more dystopian if Facebook hasn't turned into an unusable boomer wasteland https://twitter.com/...
@timothybucksf Timothy Buck on x
@alexeheath Related, as a user who knew the difference, I would still get tripped up when the News tab and the News Feed tab were next to each other
@hankgreen Hank Green on x
It feels intentional at this point...[Screenshot of the cover of M.T.Anderson's Feed novel]
@briantong Brian Tong on x
They don't want the word ‘News’ in there because they don't care what's real or fake.🙄 Now it won't be a liability. https://twitter.com/...
@universalorl Universal Orlando Resort on x
Starting today, Universal Orlando Resort will now be known as “Resort.” Happy coasting! https://twitter.com/...
@grogsgamut Greg Jericho on x
“It's cleaner"* *lol not the actual news feed - that will still be awful and full of lies and fraud https://twitter.com/...
@blackamazon @blackamazon on x
We no longer want to even pretend to be attached to your curation or legitimate news https://twitter.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
[Photo of a poster with an image of a cow and the words “High Quality 100% Organic Feed"]
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
@alexeheath Also does calling it just “Feed” make Facebook sound like a restaurant or a pig trough or something?
@ketanj0 Ketan Joshi on x
‘feed’ just conjures up an image of a trough filled with raw, processed, homogenous sludge https://twitter.com/...
@stevenbjohnson Steven Johnson on x
Facebook finally catching up to @stefaniesyman and me, 27 years later. (See this if you don't get the reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/...) https://twitter.com/...
@olybackstrom Oly Backstrom on x
@JenZoratti I like it. Force-feed works as well.
@robleathern Rob Leathern on x
@TimSweeneyEpic @pkafka Artisanal and organic
@libshipwreck @libshipwreck on x
You might say that this is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but if you scroll through your Facebook feed for long enough you'll inevitably come across a story about how the sinking of the Titanic was faked by the Illuminati. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Facebook's new slogan is “To Serve Man” https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x
this is key to me, considering the rough patch the company is going through right now. in essence, MZ is saying cut out the noise and focus on the mission (zuck post here) https://t.co/drRXcaMaJ9 https://t.co/sKC5iiMdLJ
@oablanchard Olivier Blanchard on x
When the rebrand finally matches the reality of what the product does (and doesn't) actually deliver. https://twitter.com/...
@asteris @asteris on x
It was never a news feed, it was always a media items and narratives feed. (Even Twitter's feed can't be said to be a news feed, and it's significantly more news-centered.) https://twitter.com/...
@smotus Seth Masket on x
That's not cynical at all. https://twitter.com/...
@yelvington Steve Yelvington on x
This makes sense when the algorithm is suppressing actual news. https://twitter.com/...
@shiringhaffary @shiringhaffary on x
From company statement: “This is just a name change to better reflect the diverse content people see on their Feeds” and “does not impact the app experience more broadly.” https://twitter.com/...
@jbienkahn Joseph Bien-Kahn on x
My grandpa used to say, ‘Time to put on the old feed bag’ before a big meal. I like this image change for FB — lean into the stuffing-your-face aspects of social media browsing https://twitter.com/...
@mededit Chris Harrop on x
Truth in labeling scores a victory. https://twitter.com/...
@brfreed Benjamin Freed on x
well at least they're admitting it's not news https://twitter.com/...
@nickstatt Nick Statt on x
Facebook: Come eat out of the trough. https://twitter.com/...
@boztank @boztank on x
Fun fact: when we first launched this product I fought hard to call it just “feed” but was overruled. Fifteen years later, I am vindicated! https://twitter.com/...
@daviddoel David Doel on x
‘Feed’ is the perfect name for human livestock consuming whatever garbage is thrown into the trough. https://twitter.com/...
@marypcbuk Mary Branscombe on x
does this mean Facebook users are now food? https://twitter.com/...
@brooklynmarie Brooke Binkowski on x
This company simply is not equipped to do what the world needs it to do. They aren't capable of fixing what they broke. https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
@alexeheath It's just a name change it's just a name change don't say it's not just a name change it's a just name change
@salgentile Sal Gentile on x
excellent PR to refer to the content on your platform as the stuff cattle eat from a trough https://twitter.com/...
@donie @donie on x
It was either this or “flaming dumpster fire” https://twitter.com/...
@justinhendrix Justin Hendrix on x
Strong “users are livestock” vibes. https://twitter.com/...
@johngeemccarthy John McCarthy on x
This solves a couple of problems. https://twitter.com/...
@janelytv Jane Lytvynenko on x
a little on the nose ain't it https://twitter.com/...
@jenzoratti Jen Zoratti on x
My god, just call it The Content Trough. https://twitter.com/...
@xpangler Todd Spangler on x
RIP to the Facebook “News Feed” https://twitter.com/...
@thor_benson Thor Benson on x
Oh like what you give to farm animals I get it https://twitter.com/...
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
@facebookapp Why didn't you just name it Dan Bongino?
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Facebook has backed off showing news links after realizing the engagement wasn't worth the scandal (and societal damage). People will laugh, but Feed > News Feed. https://t.co/ANxgVBF1x4
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
that should fix all the problems! https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 Ryan Mac on x
Did they rip the BuzzFeed font... https://twitter.com/...
@evelyndouek @evelyndouek on x
news feed newspeak https://t.co/HXUIoBX1cX
@slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x
Technically, you can't call Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino “news”, so instead of changing their algorithm, they'll just remove the word “news”. Makes sense. https://t.co/ppMxfIHfrm
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
I just opened Facebook and it's mainly content from three days ago, so this checks out https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
hard not to see this as reinforcing the push to deprioritize political content https://t.co/zHj0PUc1X1

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