Is the metaverse out and Facebook back in? That’s one way to look at Tuesday’s announcement from the company formerly known as Facebook: Meta is revamping its flagship app with a number of features focused on connecting friends, along with design changes, including a renewed focus on what still works, like its popular Facebook Marketplace.
The changes come days after news of Meta considering sizable cuts to its metaverse efforts, which, before the AI boom, aimed to make virtual worlds and VR the company’s next big bet in social networking. Meanwhile, Facebook still reaches billions, even if its growth remains flat in key markets like the U.S.
As Facebook’s population ages, the app remains in heavy use among boomers and Gen Xers. That’s led Meta to try to find a footing among a younger demographic. After failed attempts to reboot Facebook as a home for college kids, the company has been making more noise recently around giving Facebook a Gen Z makeover.
But what’s been resonating with younger people is Facebook Marketplace.
The company’s online marketplace is used by more than half of its Gen Z users in the U.S., according to a 2025 eMarketer report on social media users. Last month, Meta confirmed the trend, noting that Marketplace was used by one out of four young adult daily active Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada.
Despite the traction, however, Marketplace has remained buried in the “More” menu under users’ profiles in the Facebook app.
This new update, rolling out soon, will add Marketplace to the app’s bottom navigation bar, alongside other social and creator-focused features like Reels and Friends.
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Image Credits:Meta/Facebook
Reels and direct messaging have been the most popular features on Instagram, the company said earlier this year, which is why it began testing a redesign that centered those in the mobile experience. Now Facebook is getting similar treatment in terms of recentering friends as part of the experience.
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