Screen Grab from Twitter/@einkoenig
Tired of the same old material flooding your news feed?
You’re in luck, as Facebook is testing out a new feature that offers users a second optional feed.
The beta update, which was recently rolled out on Android and has been noticed on iOS since January, features the second news feed under the “Explore” tab.
According to UNILAD, the default news feed remains on the “Home” tab featuring pages that the user likes and follows, while the alternative will show a combination of photos, videos and articles tailored to the user’s interest—but hasn’t liked yet.
The feature is eerily identical to Instagram’s Search and Explore tab, the report said.
The tab will also be more video-centric, which aligns with Facebook’s constant push for users to view more videos.
With thousands of new pages sprouting each day, the secondary feed looks to be a way for users to engage more with content that they have yet to encounter, based on their personal preferences.
Facebook’s complicated algorithm once again plays a crucial part toward recommending pages based on what the user likes, as well as urging people to explore more, as the tab suggests.
As of this writing, Facebook has yet to acknowledge or formalize the second feed option, which is reportedly still under close monitoring. The experiment only works for randomly selected users and tests different features all the time. Khristian Ibarrola /ra