For years, Facebook has been quietly slipping from the cultural spotlight — and Mark Zuckerberg knows it.
A newly surfaced email exchange between Zuckerberg and Facebook head Tom Alison, revealed during the FTC’s antitrust trial against Meta, lays bare the internal anxieties about Facebook’s fading relevance. Dated April 2022, the conversation offers rare insight into how the company’s top brass view the platform’s struggles — and what they’ve considered doing to fix them.
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“Steady Engagement, But Slipping Soul”
Zuckerberg didn’t mince words. “Even though the FB app’s engagement is steady in many places, it feels like its cultural relevance is decreasing quickly,” he wrote. “I worry that this may be a leading indicator of future health issues.”
Despite growth at Instagram and WhatsApp, Zuckerberg said Facebook’s trajectory could make or break Meta’s future. Months earlier, the company had launched Reels — a short-form video feature built to counter TikTok — but Zuckerberg made it clear that simply copying others wasn’t enough. He wanted a “unique vision” for Facebook.
What’s Going Wrong? Here’s Zuckerberg’s Diagnosis
- The Friend Graph Is Broken
The concept of “friending” — once central to Facebook — now feels outdated and awkward. “A lot of people’s friend graphs are stale,” Zuckerberg noted, saying users don’t feel a connection to the people in their networks anymore. Worse, friending someone now feels “heavyweight” compared to just following them on Instagram. One of his more radical suggestions? Let users start over from scratch. - Following Has Replaced Friending
“Every other modern social network is built on following,” Zuckerberg admitted, citing his own tendency to follow surfers or MMA fighters on Instagram and Twitter. In contrast, Facebook’s identity remains tied to mutual connections — an outdated model in a world where users follow personalities, not just peers. - Groups Aren’t Enough
Facebook’s pivot to communities — particularly Groups — hasn’t delivered the relevance Zuckerberg hoped for. After years of investment, he sounded uncertain: “I’m not sure how much further we’ll be able to push this.” He acknowledged that much of that activity was already shifting to private messaging. - Reels Need a Soul
While Reels are good for engagement, they lack the “social sense of feeling connected,” especially when content is simply cross-posted from other platforms. Alison agreed, responding that Facebook lacks a truly “culturally relevant public content ecosystem.” Right now, it’s mostly “commoditized news and publisher video.” - Even Instagram Is a Competitor
One of the more surprising revelations? Facebook’s biggest rival might be its own sister app. “Differentiating between IG and FB is important,” Zuckerberg wrote, “but we need a strategy that doesn’t leave one service picking up the scraps.” Instagram is thriving culturally. Facebook, not so much.
What now?
The emails don’t outline a clear solution — just a list of structural problems and big questions. Can Facebook reinvent itself without becoming a clone of Instagram or TikTok? Is it too late to make friending cool again? Can communities or creators carry the platform forward?
Zuckerberg’s underlying concern is existential: if Facebook continues to lose cultural traction, Meta’s entire ecosystem is at risk. And while Wall Street may still reward steady engagement, Silicon Valley knows all too well — when the cool fades, the users follow.
