Facebook has announced that it is changing the name of its ‘News Feed’ to ‘Feed’. News Feed is the main view that highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays, among other updates. The News Feed name was first introduced more than 15 years ago.
Facebook said in a statement, “Starting today, our News Feed will now be known as “Feed.” Happy scrolling!”
While the company hasn’t explained the reason behind the name change, Meta’s own research in 2021 showed that its News Feed’s algorithm was pushing politicians to take more extreme positions.
It is speculated that this re-branding of the name is a way on how Facebook wants to distance itself from the space on its platform that has been associated with misinformation for a long time now, according to Verge. But the company insists there is no larger motive at player here.
“It is just a name change to better reflect the diverse content people see on their Feeds,” Facebook spokesperson Dami Oyefeso told The Verge.
Facebook earlier in 2021, rebranded itself to ‘Meta’ at Connect 2021. For the uninitiated, the metaverse is a hybrid of online social experiences, expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. “It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together — and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world. It’s the next evolution in a long line of social technologies, and it’s ushering in a new chapter for our company,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said about his vision in a founder’s letter.
Earlier this week, the company also announced that it is rolling out ‘News’ tab feature on its platform for its users in France. This new feature will spotlight news stories from a range of reliable news sources.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to journalism and content creation at Meta, this new tab will give people a dedicated space to seek out stories that matter the most to them, whilst ensuring original reporting is given a wider reach to audiences across the country,” the company wrote in a blog post.
