It’s Not “News Feed”, It’s Only “Feed” Now- Announces Meta

Meta said that the "News Feed" name made people think it was a platform for news stories, so now it will be only "Feed"

Meta has announced that it is changing the name of Facebook's News Feed to 'better reflect the diverse content people see'. As reported, this change is done primarily because of the confusion created by the term "News Feed". The "news" label has led some to believe that there are only news stories in the mainstream, but not necessarily posts by friends. 

It will now be known simply as 'Feed', a rather modest change that several users and commentators have poked fun at, with some suggesting that the social media giant is trying to shake off its reputation as a hub of misinformation. 

The name change could also help clear up potential confusion within the app. Over a decade and a half ago, when the News Feed was introduced, Facebook didn't also have a News tab that users could mix it up with. In a memo to employees, Meta said the "News Feed" name made people think it was a place for news stories instead of posts from friends.

News Feed, now known as Feed, is the main interface on Meta that lets users scroll through numerous posts shared by their family and friends, including photos, videos, and text posts. Reportedly, the name change is to better reflect the diverse content people see on their feeds and will not impact the app experience any more than its intended purpose. 

Meta said that the News Feed name made people think it was a platform for news stories instead of posts from family and friends. Hence, the name change seems to give users a better idea about what type of content the app serves.

Furthermore, Meta has said that it is working on limiting the amount of political content on users' homepages. It can be deduced that the name change will help clear the air around controversies and misinformation about political issues usually spread on the platform.