Apr 21, 2025 10:11 AM IST
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed worries that Facebook was losing its grip on cultural relevance.
Newly released internal documents have shed fresh light on the Meta’s concerns about Facebook’s fading influence. As per a report by TechCrunch, emails from April 2022 that were submitted as evidence in trail, reveal a candid internal debate at Meta about how to keep Facebook relevant in an evolving digital landscape.
According to the uncovered emails, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in particular, expressed worries that Facebook was losing its grip on cultural relevance, even though engagement numbers remained stable. In a message to colleagues, he wrote: “Even though the FB app’s engagement is steady in many places, it feels like its cultural relevance is decreasing quickly and I worry that this may be a leading indicator of future health issues.”
Zuckerberg stressed that Facebook’s continued decline in cultural status could undermine the broader success of Meta, despite the strength of its other platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Friends vs Followers: A Format Under Fire
One of the central concerns raised in the emails was Facebook’s reliance on its “Friends” model—a structure that many inside Meta, including Zuckerberg, considered outdated. “Friending feels out of vogue right now,” he admitted, highlighting that stale friend networks and the friction of friend requests made the experience feel dated.
Zuckerberg even floated the radical idea of wiping users’ friend graphs entirely and starting afresh, though he acknowledged the significant risk such a move would entail.
A Return to “OG Facebook”
Fast-forward to 2025, and the issue remains unresolved. During Meta’s Q4 earnings call in January, Zuckerberg said the company’s focus for the year would be to restore Facebook’s cultural standing by revisiting its roots—a vision he described as “OG Facebook.” One step in this direction has been the rollout of a redesigned Friends tab, part of an ongoing effort to revive interest and reshape user experience.
Facebook may adopt a new model
Zuckerberg’s emails outline a future where Facebook might adopt a “follow-first” model similar to Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, abandoning the long-standing friending mechanism. The documents suggest Meta is still navigating how to modernise Facebook without alienating its existing user base—an urgent task if the platform is to remain culturally relevant in the competitive world of social media.
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