Facebook overhauls News Feed to focus more on shared moments of friends, families

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that the company will overhaul its News Feed to place more emphasis on posts from families and friends, in response to what some criticized as "addictive contents" that waste too much time.

"We've gotten feedback from our community that public content -- posts from businesses, brands and media -- is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

Facebook is built to help people stay connected and bring them closer together with those mattering most to them, he said.

The changes rolling out in 2018 will be a "major" step to let more than 2 billion facebook users focus more on "meaningful social interactions" and spend less time on news articles, viral videos and other media content.

"Since there's more public content than posts from your friends and family, the balance of what's in News Feed has shifted away from the most important thing Facebook can do -- help us connect with each other," Zuckerberg said.

He added that he hoped the time that users of the world's largest social network spend on it will be more valuable, which will be good for the community and the business over the long term.

Facebook has been under intense scrutiny in recent days as some critics said it has huge power to decide what people can see online and how it can influence its users' views about the world.

Some blamed the addictive content on Facebook such as News Feed, advertisement and videos for wasting too much of the time that users should have spent with their families and friends.

"We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. Enditem