Facebook Home page new look explained: News Feed and Stream

What is the difference between News Feed and Live Feed?

News Feed aggregates the most interesting content that your friends are posting, while Live Feed shows you all the actions your friends are making in real-time.

Some of my friends’ stories aren’t showing in Live Feed.

You can control how many friends are shown in Live Feed by clicking “Edit Options” at the bottom of the page.

Where are my Highlights?

Highlights and News Feed have been merged into one single stream in order to provide you with more control over what you see on your home page. Now when you load Facebook for the first time in a while, you’ll land on your News Feed, which contains a summary of the best content that you missed. After you’ve caught up on what you’ve missed, you can switch to the Live Feed. The Live Feed is a real-time stream that allows you to connect and share with friends’ updates immediately as they are occurring.

How does News Feed determine which content is most interesting?

The News Feed algorithm bases this on a few factors: how many friends are commenting on a certain piece of content, who posted the content, and what type of content it is (e.g. photo, video, or status update).

What types of content can appear in News Feed and Live Feed?

In addition to posts from your friends, you’ll see photo tags, friend requests, event RSVPs and group memberships in your home page streams.

How do I hide stories from a particular application (e.g., a quiz) from appearing in News Feed?

Hover over the application story in your News Feed and click the “Hide” button. Selecting the name of the application from the drop-down menu will prevent all stories from that particular application from appearing on your home page. Remember that selecting the name of a person from this menu will hide all stories from that person.

Where are News Feed Preferences?

You can remove friends from the News Feed list (from your default stream) simply by clicking the “Hide” that appears when you hover over their story in your stream.
To add someone back to your News Feed, follow these steps:
1. Scroll down to the bottom of your News Feed and click “Edit Options.”
2. If you are looking for a friend, scan the list to find that person. If you are looking for a public profile, select the Public Profiles tab.
3. Click “Add to News Feed” to see their posts again.
4. Click “Close” to save your changes.

How do I add friends or public profiles back to my News Feed after I hide them?

To add someone back to your News Feed, follow these steps:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of your News Feed and click “Edit Options.”
2. If you are looking for a friend, scan the list to find that person. If you are looking for a public profile, select the Public Profiles tab.
3. Click “Add to News Feed” to see their posts again.
4. Click “Close” to save your changes.

Why did Facebook combine News Feed and Highlights?

Facebook enables you to see what’s happening with your friends through past events and real-time feeds of information. Highlights and the News Feed were combined into a single stream so that you could have more control over what you view on your home page and stay connected with your friends.

As a result of this change, you’ll notice that the Suggestions section has been moved to the right-hand column of the home page. Also, birthdays and events are displayed more prominently on the home page.

Where can I find a list of my friends’ Status Updates?

To view only Status Updates from your friends on your home page, select the “Status Updates” filter from the left side of the page.

How can I organize and control the content that appears on my home page?

You can control the content that appears on your home page by adjusting the filters on the left side of your screen. Click here to learn more about filters.

How can I control the content my friends see on their home pages?

The stories that appear on your friends’ home pages are based on the content you publish, the settings of your Publisher Control, and your friends’ filter preferences. While your friends can always choose to hide content that you publish, you can ensure that they have to option to view your stories by changing the settings on your Publisher Control.

Why can someone I haven’t accepted as a friend see News Feed stories about me?

When someone sends you a friend request, public stories about you may appear in their News Feed. If you decline a friend request from this person, public stories about you (stories that have the privacy set to “Everyone”) will no longer appear in their News Feed. Please note that News Feed will never show stories that a non-friend wouldn’t ordinarily be able to see. For example, if you posted a video and set the privacy to “Friends,” a person who is waiting for you to approve their friend request would not see that in their News Feed. If you had set the video to be visible to Everyone, that person would see it.

Why can I see News Feed stories about someone who has yet to accept my friend request?

When you send a friend request to a person, public stories about them (stories that have the privacy set to “Everyone”) may appear in your News Feed. This way you don’t have wait for them to respond to your friend request to see their public updates. Please note that News Feed will never show stories that a non-friend wouldn’t ordinarily be able to see. People who have yet to accept your friend requests will also appear on the Friends page. Here, you can add them to Friend Lists.

If you don’t want to see stories from a person who has yet to accept your friend requests, you can hide them from your News Feed by placing your cursor to the right of a story about them and clicking the “Hide” link that appears. Alternatively, you can remove them as a friend by clicking the “X” next to their name on the Friends page.