Facebook wants to be your friend again, by showing you what your real friends are up to. In an attempt to save itself from the AI slop and clickbaity images that are all over its algorithmic feed, Facebook is now updating its mobile app's dedicated Friends tab to be a whole feed, showing you updates only from the real people that you actually care about. That's a pretty big change, since before, all the Friends tab did was show you friend requests and people you may know.
According to Facebook, the new Friends tab is one of “several ‘OG' Facebook experiences” that are set to be released throughout the year, so this is just the beginning. That said, while the new feature started rolling out yesterday in the US and Canada, there's no timeline for a global rollout yet.
How does the new Friends feed work?
Credit: Meta
In addition to having buttons up top for viewing friend requests, birthdays, and suggestions for people to follow, the Friends tab will now let you scroll down to see your friend's stories, reels, and posts, just like in the good old days. It still doesn't seem entirely chronological—Facebook hasn't been clear about how posts on this tab are organized—but hey, it's a start.
How to pin the Friends feed to the tab bar
By default, the new Friends feed is quite hidden. Don't expect to see it front and center simply because you updated the Facebook app. You should find it in your home feed's navigation bar on the very bottom of your screen, hidden behind an icon depicting one person standing in front of another. But if you don't see it, you can also pin it your navigation bar manually. To do that, click your Profile picture and go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Tab Bar. Here, click the button next to Friends and choose the Pin option.
What do you think so far?
Credit: Meta
Now, the Friends feed will be available in the tab bar. You can press and hold the Friends tab to unpin it if you don't want to use this feature down the line.
Hey, you can't turn off Meta AI, but getting to see your friend's life updates is at least something.
