Facebook is quietly testing a version of itself that skips the feed entirely.
Meta has started showing some users in India a Facebook experience that opens directly into full-screen video, with Reels given the primary spot instead of the traditional News Feed. The test is limited for now and Meta has not said how many users are included or for how long it will run. It follows the same full-screen, swipe-up format Meta already uses for Reels inside Instagram and Facebook's existing video tab. India is a logical testing ground: it is Meta's largest user base and the market where TikTok's 2020 ban left a vacuum that Reels, Moj, and other short-video apps have been fighting to fill ever since.
The real story here isn't video on Facebook, which has been there for years. It's Meta conceding, again, that the feed is no longer the default reason people open the app. Instagram made the same bet when it pushed Reels harder than photos, and YouTube did it when Shorts got its own home tab. If this test expands, Facebook starts looking less like a social network with a video section and more like a video app that still has a social network attached.
Treat this as an experiment, not a redesign. Meta runs constant regional A/B tests, and most never leave the lab. But the direction is consistent with everything Meta has shipped since it declared Reels a priority: shorter attention spans get the premium real estate, and the feed that built Facebook's business gets demoted to something you have to go looking for.