Uncovered emails revealed how Meta struggled to keep Facebook culturally relevant

Meta aims to revitalize Facebook's cultural relevance amid past struggles.

: Meta executives, in 2022, acknowledged Facebook's waning cultural relevance, considering a shift from its traditional 'Friends' format. Mark Zuckerberg, during Meta's 2025 Q4 earnings call, emphasized reviving Facebook's original appeal. A key focus became the revamped Friends tab while questioning the existing 'friending' structure's effectiveness. Solutions proposed included adopting a 'following' model and potentially resetting users' friend graphs.

In efforts to keep Facebook relevant, internal emails from Meta executives in 2022 revealed discussions on its decreasing cultural relevance. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, noted during a series of messages that while the Facebook app saw stable engagement in certain areas, it appeared to be losing touch with cultural trends. This issue worried Zuckerberg as he considered it a potential indicator of future challenges for the company's overall health, particularly as Instagram (IG) and WhatsApp (WA) continued to perform well. Zuckerberg expressed the necessity of revitalizing Facebook to ensure sustainable growth and prevent the app from lagging behind its sister services.

By 2025, Zuckerberg reiterated the theme of cultural revival in Meta’s Q4 earnings call. Emphasizing a shift back to “OG Facebook,” the company implemented solutions like a revamped Friends tab as part of efforts to rejuvenate Facebook’s impact. Zuckerberg had initially expressed doubts about Facebook's 'friending' structure, describing it as possibly outdated. He recognized that the ease of adding new acquaintances and maintaining meaningful connections seemed impaired, as the dynamic concept of following became popular across social media platforms.

Meta explored several possible solutions to address these concerns. One notable suggestion included transforming Facebook’s structure from the 'friending' model to a 'following' model, which Zuckerberg felt could perhaps more adequately capture modern social networking trends. He also proposed radical steps such as resetting all users’ friend graphs, acknowledging the potential risks involved. Zuckerberg believed that fundamentally changing how users interact could reignite Facebook's relevance in contemporary society.

Analyzing the root issues further, Zuckerberg cited several reasons for the decreasing popularity of the 'friending' model. He identified that many users’ friend networks had grown stale, filled with connections they no longer deemed significant. The process of requesting new friends appeared cumbersome, creating a barrier for users who simply wished to follow others without formalizing ties. Zuckerberg associated these challenges directly with Facebook’s perceived cultural disconnection when compared to other platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

To ascertain the feasibility of these changes, Zuckerberg recommended testing the proposed changes within a smaller market—such as test-driving new strategies in a smaller country before full-scale implementation. This approach would allow Meta to better predict user response and ensure a positive outcome if such a radical transformation were pursued.

Sources: FTC Document Repository, Meta Corporate Communications, Trial Records

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