Meta announced on the 27th that it has introduced the ‘Friends’ tab, which shows only content from real friends without algorithm recommendations, in the U.S. and Canada as part of a strategy to restore Facebook’s original identity by 2025.
The new ‘Friends’ tab displays only your friends’ stories, reels, posts, birthdays, and friend requests, without sponsored content or algorithm-recommended posts like the existing main feed. It has been restructured from a space for managing friend requests to a dedicated tab focusing on maintaining personal relationships.
This feature can be accessed from the Home feed or the Bookmark navigation bar, and users can pin the ‘Friends’ tab through the ‘Settings > Tab Bar > Customize’ menu. It is currently only available in North America, and expansion plans to other countries have not been announced yet.
This overhaul is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to “restore the OG (Original) Facebook experience,” mentioned during the fourth-quarter earnings report in January. Meta aims to recover the weakened real connections between users caused by algorithm-based content and advertisements, and to maintain its user base in the highly competitive social media market.
Reorganizing friend-centric content is also interpreted as an attempt to bring back younger users who have shifted to TikTok and Instagram. Meta plans to continue restructuring its existing social media functions by 2025 to enhance a more personalized social experience.
