Facebook is ditching its recommendation algorithm with a huge Friends tab update

Life online, particularly on social media platforms, is driven by algorithms that make constant recommendations to users in an attempt to keep them engaged for longer. While algorithms have their place, there has been a massive backlash against their incessant use on the likes of Facebook, partly because they gobble up personal data, but also because the recommendations are often rubbish.

This is something that apparently even Facebook is aware of. The social media giant has just announced that it is going back to its roots with a massive update to the Friends tab. Here, users are promised that they will be shown only content from their friends and no recommended content at all.

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Before you get too excited about the death of the algorithm, there are a few points to keep in mind. Firstly, it is only the updated Friends tab that is being purged of recommended content -- this will still be found everywhere else on Facebook. Secondly, this is a staggered rollout that sees the update hitting the US and Canada for now. Other countries are likely to be added in the future, but no details are available yet.

Announcing the update, Meta says:

We want to make it easier for people to find their friends’ content on Facebook. So starting today in the United States and Canada, the new 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.

The Friends tab is available initially through the navigation bar on your home Feed and can always be accessed in the Bookmarks section of the app.

Meta says that this is just the start of its work. The company says that it will be bringing back “several “OG” Facebook experiences throughout the year”.