TikTok’s success has raised concerns for the social media platform company, according to a recently leaked internal Facebook memo. The US technology media website The Verge recently reported that it had obtained an internal Facebook memo. In the memo, Facebook’s head of apps, Tom Alison, explained very clearly the company’s plans to revamp its feed, along with other sweeping changes to the Facebook app.
The memo announced some planned changes that make it clear that Facebook’s strategy to compete with TikTok is no longer just about promoting the short-video app Reels.
Some of the changes mentioned in the memo include:
- Facebook is expected to “balance connected and unconnected content” in its feed, which means Facebook will start recommending more content in users’ feeds from sources it isn’t connected to. That is, users will still see posts from contacts (friends and family), but will also see more content from entities to they are not connected to.
- While Messenger and Facebook are currently separate apps, the memo suggests reuniting the two apps to support what Ellison calls “message-based content sharing.”
- Facebook is still prioritizing the development of Reels, with plans to “integrate Reels into Home, Watch, IFR and Groups”. Reels, which is owned by Facebook’s photo-sharing social app Instagram, is a product launched by Facebook to compete with TikTok in the short-video space.
These changed features should be familiar to TikTok users. Although TikTok was not mentioned by name, the memo shows that Facebook appears to be very focused on competing with TikTok in the short-video space.
After all, Facebook’s plan to revamp its feed looks like it wants to make it more like TikTok’s “FYP” (For You Page, which showcases featured videos that TikTok thinks users will like) tags, while rebranding Messenger and Facebook. The combined Facebook app is similar to TikTok’s Inbox feature.
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