Trying to reengage users who have tired of their main News Feed, Facebook is testing what it is calling a “complementary feed.”
The fresh feed -- represented by a rocket ship
icon on Facebook’s mobile interface -- picks posts based on a different algorithm than Facebook’s flagship feed. It is still tailored to perceived user preferences, but relies less on the
degree to which people “like” other posts.
The experiment -- first reported by TechCrunch -- is part of Facebook’s efforts to inspire more engagement among existing
users.
To that end, Facebook just recently added ‘Stories’ to its flagship app. Like Snapchat’s own Stories service, Facebook’s new offering encourages users to share multiple photos and
videos as part of a "visual collection" atop their News Feed.
Despite its senior status among other social networks, Facebook continues to show solid growth in both usage and time spent .
As a result, the social network’s domestic display business is poised to jump 32.1% to $16.33 billion -- or 39.1% of the U.S. display market -- this year, by eMarketer’s estimate.
Instagram is also helping to drive Facebook’s revenue growth. In fact, Instagram will make up 20% of Facebook’s domestic mobile revenue this year — up from 15% last year.
More broadly, domestic digital ad spending will reach $83 billion in 2017, representing an increase of
15.9%, eMarketer expects.