Facebook reportedly plans massive overhaul to compete with TikTok

By Anita George June 15, 2022

Is TikTok’s success a cause for concern for Facebook? A recently leaked internal memo from the social media platform seems to suggest just that.

Earlier today, The Verge published a report about an internal memo it obtained. Within this memo, the head of Facebook Tom Alison very clearly explained Facebook’s plans for revamping its feed and other sweeping changes to Meta’s flagship social media app. A number of planned changes were announced in the memo and it is very apparent that Facebook’s strategy for competing with TikTok isn’t just about pushing Reels anymore.

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Some of the changes mentioned in the memo include:

Facebook’s Feed is expected to “balance both connected content and unconnected content” in Feed. What does that mean? It means that Facebook is going to start recommending more content in your feed from sources you’re not connected with. You’ll still be able to see posts from your connections (friends and family), but you’ll also see more content from entities you’re not connected with.
While Messenger and Facebook are currently used as separate apps, the memo suggests reuniting them, to support what they refer to as the “message-based sharing” of content.
Facebook is still prioritizing Reels (its and Instagram’s answer to the short-form videos that made TikTok so successful and wildly popular in the first place). Facebook is planning on ” integrating Reels in Home, Watch, IFR, and Groups.”

Do these feature changes sound familiar to you? They should if you’re a TikTok user. And that’s apparently the point. Though it doesn’t mention TikTok by name, the memo shows that Facebook seems very focused on snagging some of TikTok’s short-form video success for itself, as it works to revamp Feed (which sounds like it’s trying to be more like TikTok’s FYP), and as it plans to combine Messenger and Facebook once again (a change that, as The Verge points out, resembles TikTok’s own Inbox feature).

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