The revamped Facebook application with TikTok sauce

Facebook, which is more than ever facing competition from the very popular platform TikTok, has decided to highlight digital creators and entertainment on its mobile application, moving further away from traditional content.

The revamped Facebook application with TikTok sauce

Facebook, which is more than ever facing competition from the very popular platform TikTok, has decided to highlight digital creators and entertainment on its mobile application, moving further away from traditional content.

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The social network announced on Thursday that the main or "Home" tab will now mix messages from the user's contacts with content from various creators, depending on their interests.

A new tab, dubbed “Posts Feed,” will be reserved for posts posted by friends, family, and groups.

"The home feed becomes a 'discovery engine' that lets you find new content and subscribe to new creators through recommendations," the platform said in a statement.

Users will find there in particular the “stories” of their friends (ephemeral photos and videos on the model of Snapchat) and the “reels”, a video format copied from TikTok.

The home page is personalized thanks to algorithms which take into account “thousands of signals”, to “offer you what seems to us the most interesting for you”, underlines Facebook.

TikTok, a company of the Chinese group ByteDance, has built its phenomenal success on its format (short videos, with special effects and catchy tunes, which easily capture attention) but also on its algorithms, which quickly identify the likes of the user to offer him content from unknown creators.

Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram and world number two in digital advertising, needs to value its “reels” so as not to give up too much ground.

"Our transition to short formats is not yet generating substantial revenue for the moment, but we are optimistic," assured Mark Zuckerberg, the group's boss, during a conference call at the end of April.

He said on his profile Thursday that the separate publications feed will allow users not to miss announcements from their friends and groups, which will be displayed chronologically, and without “recommendations”.

In January 2021, after a turbulent US presidential election, the billionaire had indicated that he wanted to distance himself as much as possible from political subjects to focus on "positive" interactions - less controversial and more lucrative.

On Tuesday, Meta confirmed that it was redirecting some resources from "Facebook News" (the tab dedicated to the press) and its "Bulletin" newsletter to other products, after a Wall Street Journal article on the subject .

“We are always doing more so that (creators) can find their audiences on Facebook and grow active communities there,” a spokesperson told AFP.

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