Facebook’s News Feed, introduced in September 2006, became its main stream of posts from friends and Pages.
Before News Feed, users generally visited individual profiles to see updates. The feature collected recent activity into one continuously changing home-page stream, making Facebook more useful for following many people at once.
Its launch caused an early privacy backlash because users were surprised that actions could be gathered into a single feed. Facebook responded with explanations and additional privacy controls. The feature later incorporated posts, photos, videos, links, live broadcasts, advertisements, and recommendations.
News Feed is sometimes confused with Timeline. Timeline is the profile-based presentation of a person’s own activity, while News Feed is the personalized stream shown to users. Facebook later adjusted the name and design in different products, but the feed remained central to the service.