• by Colin Kirkland , 11 hours ago

Meta is testing a feed option on Facebook that directs some users into a full-screen video experience upon opening the social media app, prioritizing the company’s leading TikTok-like short-form video format Reels over written and photo content. 

Facebook head Tom Alison mentioned the test in July as a means of introducing a more “immersive video” experience to the platform’s three billion global users. 

“People are showing us they want more immersive, visual, video-forward experience,” Alison wrote at the time, adding that the company was planning a test of a “reimagined experience that puts a subset of people who we think want more video on Facebook into full-screen video the moment they open the app.”

The test is currently running in India, Facebook’s largest user market with over 400 million actives. Selected users in the region have the ability to opt out of the full-screen video feed and go back to a “Feed-first experience if they choose,” per Alison’s statement. 

“Classic Feed will always be available as the second tab in the app,” he noted, sharing additional plans to bring the test to the U.S. sometime in 2027. 

Facebook’s full-screen video test highlights the platform’s ongoing embrace of a video-first content strategy. 

In 2024, Facebook implemented its full-screen video player (the “Video Tab”), then, a year later, renamed the app’s “Video Tab” the “Reels Tab,” making all videos uploaded to the platform shared as Reels, regardless of their length or formatting.  

All horizontal videos on Facebook are now automatically converted to a vertical, TikTok-like format. 

According to Meta, younger users spend 60% of their time on Facebook watching video content, making video especially important to advertisers attempting to target younger audiences.