Facebook Reels Take Over The Opening Screen In An India Test
Meta has begun testing a Facebook Reels first experience in India, opening the app directly into a full screen video interface for a selected group of users instead of the conventional feed.
- Platform: Facebook, in India
- Change: the app opens on full screen Reels rather than the traditional feed
- Who sees it: a subset of users Meta believes prefer consuming video
- The old feed: retained as Classic Feed, a separate second tab reachable in one click
- Opt out: users in the test can switch back to the feed first experience
What The Facebook Reels Test Changes
The mechanic is a reordering rather than a removal. Video moves from something a user scrolls toward to something they land on, and the feed of posts and updates becomes a destination they choose. Nothing is deleted, but the default is reversed, and defaults decide behaviour far more reliably than preferences do.
Meta's stated reasoning is that it wants Reels, creators and the conversations around them easier to discover, and that it is testing whether a more immersive opening matches how some people already use the platform. The targeting supports that: the test is going to users who already lean toward video, so the company is reinforcing an existing habit rather than imposing a new one.
Why It Matters Beyond The Interface
For anyone planning media, the opening screen is the most valuable real estate on any app, because it is the only placement every session guarantees. Moving short video into that position changes the arithmetic on where attention lands first, and by extension where in feed inventory sits relative to it.
For creators it shifts the discovery question. A feed first app rewards what a user's connections have shared; a video first app rewards what the recommendation system believes they will watch. Those two systems favour very different kinds of work, and a creator's reach can move sharply depending on which one greets the user at launch.
The Two Track Approach Is The Hedge
Keeping Classic Feed one click away, and letting people in the test opt out entirely, gives Meta room to measure without forcing a single version of Facebook on everyone. It also tells you the company is not certain. A platform confident in a change ships it; a platform testing one builds an exit. More platform news.