Facebook’s ‘Explore Feed’ is rolling out globally this week. Previously available on mobile devices in the main navigation, Explore Feed is now available for desktop users. According to TechCrunch, the expansion to desktop was first spotted (at least publicly) by Matt Navarra, who shared a screenshot of the Explore Feed on Twitter:
Where do You Find Explore Feed?
On desktop, Explore Feed can be found in the left sidebar, within the ‘Explore’ section, where you will also see links to other features like Groups, Events, Moments, Pages, Saved Items and more. On mobile, the Explore Feed can be found in the main navigation under the ‘More’ menu. If you don’t see the Explore Feed on your devices, you may need to update. You can find more information about accessing Explore Feed here.
Note: In Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Bolivia, Guatemala and Cambodia, all posts by pages are moved from the News Feed to the new Explore Feed (so the main News Feed now contains just posts from friends and sponsored content).
What Is the Point of Explore Feed?
The overarching goal of Facebook Explore Feed is to increase the amount of time people spend on Facebook (and therefore allow Facebook to serve more ads between content and in videos). Explore Feed is also intended to help Facebook users discover more content beyond posts from friends, family and pages they already follow. Explore Feed includes algorithm-recommended content like articles, videos and posts from sources that you are yet to follow. These recommendations aren’t just random – they are based on posts that you have already liked, or those that are popular amongst your family and friends.
Explore Feed Is Not Just a Test!
In the past, Facebook claimed that Explore Feed was just a test. This changed a couple of days ago, when a Facebook representative confirmed that the new feed is now officially being rolled out:
“We are beginning to roll out a complementary feed of popular articles, videos, and photos, automatically customised for each person based on content that might be interesting to them… We’ve heard from people that they want an easy way to explore relevant content from Pages they haven’t connected with yet.”
In the past, Facebook has been criticised for making it difficult for pages to get their posts in people’s News Feeds due to cutting organic reach in favour of paid distribution or prioritising posts from friends and family members. Explore Feed might just help brands and publishers to regain some of this lost reach.
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