FACEBOOK expects users to spend less time online as Mark Zuckerberg makes “major changes”, it has announced.
The company claims the News Feed will see alterations to focus on “meaningful” interactions - this means limiting the number of posts from “businesses, brands and media”, according to Mr Zuckerberg.
In a post, he wrote: “We’re making a major change to how we build Facebook.
“I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.
“We started making changes in this direction last year, but it will take months for this new focus to make its way through all our products.
“The first changes you'll see will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups.
“As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard -- it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
The tech boss added that the move is part of his plan to improve user “well-being and happiness”.
He went on: “We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us.
“That's why we've always put friends and family at the core of the experience. Research shows that strengthening our relationships improves our well-being and happiness.
“But recently we've gotten feedback from our community that public content -- posts from businesses, brands and media -- is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.
“We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being. So we've studied this trend carefully by looking at the academic research and doing our own research with leading experts at universities.”
Mr Zuckerberg also claimed that the initiative could result in users feeling “less lonely” and will bolster “happiness and health”.
He added: “The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health.
“On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos -- even if they're entertaining or informative -- may not be as good.”
Facebook previously announced initiatives to favour posts from friends and family over others - back in 2016 it claimed it would prioritise posts shared by people a user knows.
In 2015 the company reduced the reach of pages on the social network to favour friends and family.
The billionaire has not been shy about expressing his concerns to improve Facebook - he previously stated that he wants his children to “feel like what their father built was good for the world”.
Mr Zuckerberg is a father of two - Maxima and August are his daughters.