There are a few common reasons why your Facebook news feed may not be updating properly:
You’ve muted too many people or pages
If you’ve muted a lot of your Facebook friends or pages you follow, you may not see many updates in your news feed. Muting people prevents their posts from showing up in your feed without unfriending or unfollowing them. Check your “Muted” list under Settings to see if you have muted too many people or pages.
Your friends aren’t posting
If your friends and the pages you follow aren’t posting much, then there won’t be new content for Facebook to show you. Ask your friends if they’ve been less active lately or check the pages you follow to see if their posting frequency has decreased. The less active updates there are, the less Facebook has to populate your feed.
You’ve unfollowed people or pages
Just like muting, unfollowing people or pages also removes their updates from your news feed. If you’ve unfollowed a lot of your Facebook connections, you may notice your feed feels emptier. Check your following list to see who you’ve unfollowed recently.
Your feed settings are filtering posts
Facebook allows you to customize your News Feed by showing you more or fewer posts from specific people or pages. If your feed settings are set to limit updates from people you interact with less, you may not see their posts.
To adjust your News Feed preferences:
- Click the three line menu in the top right
- Select “Settings & Privacy” then “Settings”
- Click “News Feed Preferences”
- Adjust the sliders for the types of posts you want to see more or less of
You’ve filtered too many words, phrases or topics
Facebook allows you to hide posts with specific words, phrases or topics. If you’ve filtered a lot of content, your news feed may have fewer posts. To check your filtered words or topics:
- Go to “News Feed Preferences” under Settings
- Click “Filters” at the top
- Review the extensive list of filtered terms and topics
- Delete filters to remove them and see those types of posts again
You’ve snoozed people, pages or groups
Snoozing temporarily hides posts from people, pages or groups without unfollowing them. If you have snoozed a lot of your connections, you’ll see fewer updates in your feed during the snooze period.
To check your snoozed accounts:
- Go to “News Feed Preferences” under Settings
- Click “Snoozed” at the top
- Review your list of snoozed accounts
- Click “Undo Snooze” to start seeing their posts again
You’ve hidden too many posts
If you frequently hide posts you’re not interested in, Facebook will start showing you fewer of those types of updates. For example, hiding posts from a specific person or page might cause Facebook to show you fewer of their posts.
To undo your hidden posts:
- Go to “News Feed Preferences” under Settings
- Click “Hidden” at the top
- Click “Undo Hide” on posts you want to see again
You don’t interact much with newer posts
Facebook’s algorithm pays attention to how you interact with new posts in your feed. If you often scroll past new posts without liking, commenting or sharing them, Facebook will start to show you more of the types of posts you do engage with.
To retrain Facebook’s algorithm:
- Consciously like, comment on and share newer posts in your feed, even if just a little
- Click on links you find interesting even if you don’t engage further
- Spend more time browsing and interacting with recent News Feed content
You’ve prioritized seeing Friends instead of Pages
In your News Feed preferences, you can choose to see more posts from Friends and fewer posts from Pages you follow. If you’ve set this preference, you’ll naturally see fewer page updates.
To rebalance your feed:
- Go to “News Feed Preferences” in Settings
- Adjust the slider for Pages to a more balanced setting
Facebook is having technical issues
In rare cases, a technical bug or glitch on Facebook’s end could be preventing your News Feed from updating properly. If you’ve ruled out all other possibilities, this may be the culprit. Try these troubleshooting steps:
- Force quit and relaunch the Facebook app
- Log out and back into Facebook
- Clear your browser history/cache
- Use a different web browser or device
- Check Facebook’s Platform Status page for known issues
If the problem persists across devices and platforms, you’ll need to wait for Facebook to resolve the technical difficulty on their end.
You’ve hidden too many friends or pages
In your News Feed preferences, you can choose to completely hide posts from specific friends or pages. If you’ve hidden a lot of connections, your news feed diversity will decrease.
To check your hidden connections:
- Go to “News Feed Preferences” in Settings
- Click “Hidden From Timeline” at the top
- Review the list and click “Unhide” on any you want to see again
Too many ads and suggested posts
Facebook reserves the right to insert ads and suggested posts into your News Feed. As time goes on, they tend to increase the frequency of these non-organic posts.
To reduce the amount of ads and suggested posts:
- Adjust the slider in News Feed Preferences to see fewer ads
- Install an ad blocking browser extension
- Select “Hide Ad” or “See Fewer Posts Like This” on suggested posts
- Spend less time endlessly scrolling through your feed
You’ve sorted your News Feed differently
Facebook allows you to view your News Feed in different predefined orders, like most recent or top stories. If you’ve changed your News Feed sort order, you may notice posts appear in a different sequence.
To return your News Feed to default chronological order:
- Click the three line menu in the top right
- Select “Most Recent” above your feed
Conclusion
There are many possible reasons why your Facebook News Feed may not be updating, ranging from your own feed preferences to technical issues on Facebook’s end. Carefully go through your settings, filters, snoozes and hidden lists to ensure your feed curation isn’t overly restrictive. Interact more with new posts in your feed to improve Facebook’s algorithm recommendations. Check for Facebook platform issues if the problem persists across devices. With some diligent troubleshooting, you should be able to get your News Feed flowing with new updates again.