Facebook Ditches Plan for 2 Separate News Feeds Don't expect Facebook to roll out a Snapchat-like redesign any time soon.
This story originally appeared on PCMag
In what is perhaps a veiled jab at Snap's new redesign, Facebook on Thursday announced that people don't want two separate News Feeds.
In October 2017, Facebook launched an "Explore Feed" trial in six countries to separate content from friends and family from Page posts; it's similar to what Snap did with its recent, much reviled redesign. Now, Facebook is scrapping the idea.
"In surveys, people told us they were less satisfied with the posts they were seeing, and having two separate feeds didn't actually help them connect more with friends and family," Facebook's Head of News Feed Adam Mosseri wrote in a blog post. "We also received feedback that we made it harder for people in the test countries to access important information."
So, don't expect Facebook to roll out a Snapchat-like redesign any time soon.
"We constantly try out new features, design changes and ranking updates to understand how we can make Facebook better for everyone," Mosseri wrote. "Some of these changes… work well and go on to become globally available. Others don't and we drop them."
When Facebook first announced the trial, some were concerned it would cause Pages to see a drop in engagement since people would have to proactively click to access that content. That ended up happening anyway, though, since Facebook in January started showing users more posts from family, friends and groups they are part of, and less content from businesses, brands and media organizations.
Meanwhile, Snapchat's redesign separates content from friends and content from publishers. Since the update went live, users have complained that Snapchat is "too over complicated," that it's harder to find friends in the app, and that some contacts aren't even showing up. In response, Snap recently said it's planning to add tabs in Friends and Discover that will "make it easier to find the Stories that you want."