Facebook announces huge change to app that will affect millions of users as it replaces well-known feature
FACEBOOK has announced a major new change to its app that is part of a drive to bring back the glory days of the social media site.
All users are now able to prioritise posts to the site by their friends, and filter out recommended content.
Meta announced the launch of the new Facebook Friends tab on Thursday to “bring the magic of friends back to Facebook”.
It is part of a drive by the company to restore the site back to its former glory.
The announcement said: “We’re making it easier to connect with your friends in fun and simple ways on Facebook – starting with an updated Friends tab.
“This is the first of several experiences coming this year that will bring back the joy of what we first created on Facebook.”
It comes after Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to get Facebook back to “how it was originally used back in the day”.
Facebook has dwindled in popularity, especially among younger users who are instead turning to TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
To bring back users, the Meta CEO announced he wanted to make the site more “culturally influential that it is today”.
Zuckerberg said these changes may “take our product in some interesting directions that we maybe haven’t had a focus on as much over the last several years”.
“I’m excited this year to get back to some OG Facebook,” he added.
The statements were made during Meta’s quarterly results in January when the tech guru said he would also be investing billions into new AI tools.
If you want the new Friends Tab, follow these steps:
On the app, click your profile picture in the home feed.
Then find the “Settings & Privacy” button, from there, click on “Settings” and you will find “Tab bar”.
Here you will be given the option to customise the bar – click the drop down menu on “Friends” and then “pin”.
This will pin your friend’s posts to your feed.
If you are on desktop, the process is slightly different.
On the left hand side of the screen you will find “Feeds” and then a range of options – Favourites, Friends, Groups, and Pages.
Select “Friends” and you will be able to see the most recent updates from your friends with all other content filtered out.
It is not clear how on desktop you can pin this feed.
Meta said: “The Friends tab provides an experience made up entirely of content from your Facebook friends.
“Formerly a place to view friend requests and People You May Know, the Friends tab will now show your friends’ stories, reels, posts, birthdays and friend requests.
“Social media should feel social.”
The change has initially been rolled out in the US and Canada, but some UK-based users have been able to pin their friends posts to their feed.
The Sun has reached out to Meta for clarification.
Meanwhile, Google has shared its list of hidden tricks with Android users discovering a secret “Shhh” mode.