Meta has once again taken a cue from TikTok and is rearranging their feed in a similar set up.
According to Social Media Today, TikTok, which calls itself an “entertainment app” has long fed users suggestions that mesh with their interests in its main “For You” Feed. Facebook wants to be an entertainment app as well and has rethought how to do it based on TikTok’s popularity.
The new Facebook user interface will have two columns, one called “Home” which will highlight recommended content that aligns with users’ interests, then “Feeds” which will show them content from their friends and family. For the next few weeks, prompts will pop up to help people understand how to access each type of feed.
The good news is your fans that are following you will find it easier to zone in on your content vs. having to hunt through all the tons of stuff out there that Facebook wants to shove down their throats. As explained by Mark Zuckberg:
“One of the most requested features for Facebook is to make sure people don’t miss friends’ posts. So today we’re launching a Feeds tab where you can see posts from your friends, groups, Pages and more separately in chronological order. The app will still open to a personalized feed on the Home Tab, where our discovery engine will recommend the content we think you’ll care most about. But the Feeds tab will give you a way to customize and control your experience further.”
Now for the bad news, or is it bad news? Depends on the type of stuff you’re creating. The content in the other column – the “For You” Feed will be focused on video – like TikTok.
So, if you’re not making any video, chances of your stuff getting recommended to new users is less than if you were. I don’t believe in “shoulding” anyone, but with Meta’s new focus on video in suggestions, it should make you rethink the type of content you’ll post, to improve your chances of reaching more strangers out there.
Obviously, you’re not going to want to do all video content (variety is the spice of life), but you may want to give yourself a new mantra to do at least one a week in the hopes it’ll get picked up in the “For You” Feeds.
All of it seems a little convoluted with two columns vying for attention, but hey remember, Meta’s got those alert prompts to hold users’ hand through it all. Either way people will now have to juggle the separate feeds.
Facebook says they didn’t design the new update to inundate folks with more content, they did it to make it easier for them to customize their feeds. Maybe. Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today stated, “I don’t think anyone is buying that description, but it just might work, with TikTok already showing that recommended content is more compelling than your own chosen streams, and that by sourcing your top posts from the biggest possible pool, that gives you more capacity to maximize entertainment value.”
Go play around with the feature to figure it out then get busy making some video content to see if you can cut through the noise out there to get your stuff recommended.
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Alyssa Collins hails from Minnesota, where snowy days were the perfect excuse to stay warm inside and write. Over the years, she turned that joy into a career and has authored numerous articles for various publications (under pen names). Email Alyssa via alyssa@ynot.com.
Photo credit: iStock.com/hapabapa
