Facebook to Change ‘Discovery Engine’ to Compete With TikTok

• After introducing Reels, Facebook is set to make its app even more like TikTok.

• The social media company is redesigning  Facebook’s main feed to look like TikTok’s ‘Discovery Engine’.

• Rather than prioritize posts from accounts people follow, Facebook plans to start heavily recommending posts to users.

Facebook employees have reportedly been given a new directive- to make the app’s feed more like that of TikTok.

The company’s executives are reportedly tracking TikTok’s moves and are now concerned that they aren’t doing enough to keep up. As a part of the executive’s decision, they will be a revamp of the ‘feed’ section.

According to The Verge, the Meta executive in charge of Facebook, Tom Alison, has confirmed that rather than prioritizing posts from accounts that people already follow, Facebook’s main feed will be like TikTok.

He says that the goal is for Facebook to build a ‘Discovery Engine’ similar to TikTok’s own. This means that the algorithm will recommend posts to people regardless of whether they follow the account or not.

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Also, the company has decided to bring Messenger and Facebook back together years after splitting them up into separate apps. The aim of the unification is to mimic TikTok’s messaging functionality.

The planned changes and recent emphasis on Reels show how Facebook plans to respond to competition from TikTok.

Instagram has already taken a similar route, morphing into a TikTok look alike with the Reels focus. Executives are now hoping that a similar step in Facebook will trigger growth and lure young people back to the app after years of stagnation.

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