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Facebook kills off ‘creepy’ Ticker feed, making it harder for people to stalk you

A large logo is seen at Facebook's headquarters in London, Britain, December 4, 2017: REUTERS/Toby Melville
A large logo is seen at Facebook's headquarters in London, Britain, December 4, 2017: REUTERS/Toby Melville

Facebook has killed off its Ticker feed, which showed you everything your friends did on the site in real time.

It’s a significant and largely unexpected move from the social network, which launched the feature way back in 2011.

The Ticker was informative but controversial, and was nicknamed the “creeper feed” by users.

That’s because it allowed you to monitor every single thing your friends did on Facebook, and stalk them with ease.

Users first reported its disappearance on a thread on Facebook’s Help Community, which was spotted by TechCrunch.

A verified member of the help team has now replied to the users with a message reading, “Hi everyone, This feature is no longer available.”


The thread, originally opened by a user called Ahmed Ben Ali, has now been closed.

The Ticker feed used to live in the top-right corner of the screen on the desktop site. This space is now occupied by Stories, which used to sit directly above the News Feed.

Its disappearance marks a huge shift for Facebook, which introduced it at the same time it launched the algorithmic News Feed, which prioritises the updates, pages and ads Facebook thinks you’ll be most interested in.

“News Feed often has a time lag. Usually when you’re on Facebook, a lot of your friends are too. Until now, there hasn’t been an easy way to see and chat with your friends about photos, articles, and other things they’re posting in real-time. The new ticker helps you do just that,” Facebook said in September 2011.

“Ticker shows you the same stuff you were already seeing on Facebook, but it brings your conversations to life by displaying updates instantaneously.

"Now when a friend comments, asks a question or shares something like a check in, you’ll be able to join the conversation right away. Click on anything in ticker to see the full story and chime in – without losing your place.”

The Ticker acted as a link between the old, chronological version of the Facebook News Feed and the new, algorithmic version.

Its disappearance makes it harder to keep track of your friends’ real-time activities, and could end up handing even more power over what you see on Facebook to the company.