What you need to know
- Meta states it will remove Facebook’s News tab from the platform in “early” April.
- Data showed that “over 80%” of users stopped using the tab in 2023, which was already at an excruciatingly low interaction rate across Facebook.
- Facebook’s new focus seems to be on user desires and its short-form content, Reels.
Meta announced on Februray 29, that its plans to remove the News tab from Facebook in “early” April in the U.S. and Australia.
According to Meta, Facebook’s “News” tab featured sections for bookmarked content while also displaying spotlighted news stories for users. The company said in its post, “We have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform…” Meta added this is also a part of its “ongoing effort” to realign its investments into its products.
Meta’s analytics showed that Facebook’s News tab accounted for “less than 3%” of its total platform interaction in 2023. This is shored up by additional data from last year, showing that around 80% of users in the U.S. and Australia stopped using the dedicated tab for News.
The company states news publishers will retain access to their accounts on Facebook. Moreover, Meta is encouraging them to begin shifting their practices of delivering news stories to its short-form media known as “Reels.”
Another avenue for publishers is Facebook’s ad system, which reportedly allows them to keep “100%” of the money obtained from outgoing links.
Facebook News’s disappearance in the U.S. and Australia followed six months after Meta did the same thing in Europe. Meta originally launched the News tab on Facebook in 2019 for U.S. users as a way to help bring awareness to the happenings of the world. The company then expanded the tab to more users, looping in those in Europe in 2020.
Part of Meta’s newfound focus on the services “people value the most” is its short-form content: Reels. The short videos launched in 2022 as Facebook’s answer to TikTok, which featured editing tools and ways for new creators to earn money. Meta continued to plug even more ways for creators to make money while also rolling out tools to boost their discovery rate in your feed.