Meta Introduces Several New Features for Groups at Facebook Communities Summit

Meta took the wraps off several new features for Facebook groups at its sixth Facebook Communities Summit annual gathering for community leaders from around the world Thursday. The company said most people on Facebook are members of at least 15 active groups on the platform, which sees more than 100 million group joins every day. The first batch of updates is aimed at giving people new ways to connect over shared interests and giving group administrators new ways to engage more deeply with their communities. The addition of Reels to groups lets members connect on a deeper level, share information and tell stories, and admins and members can add creative elements including audio, filters and text overlays before sharing their Reels. Meta said in a blog post that members of a group focused on makeup can use Reels to share their latest finds and techniques, and Facebook application communications associate Grace Sellick shared another example with Adweek of a pickleball group using the short video format to go over the game’s rules for newbies. Group members can help showcase their communities to more people by sharing their group’s public Facebook event via their Instagram Stories. Meta is testing updates to members’ group profiles, including the ability to customize the information in the About Me section and letting members add an indicator to their profile to let other members know they are open to messaging, which could help like-minded members connect over shared interests. The company provided an update on Community Chats—which it began testing in September as a way for people to connect in real-time on topics they care about via audio, text and video—saying that the feature is now available in more than 140 countries worldwide. Meta said it is now testing the ability for moderators to create view-only chats, or one-way communications to all group members, for the purposes of sharing important group information in a timely fashion. Admis and moderators can also engage in in-the-moment collaboration through admin-only chats. The second group of updates detailed by meta is being developed to help admins manage and drive the culture of their communities in engaging, responsible and useful ways. Meta began testing Community Contributions as a way for admins to shine a spotlight on members for contributions to the group such as taking on an active role or sharing posts that drive comments and reactions. Meta explained in a blog post Thursday, “For example, gaming communities can identify helpful tips that other members share about new features, games and characters. By accruing points, top contributing members will earn badges to feature on their group profiles, making it easier for admins to select members for roles.” Members who help other members feel connected, motivated to contribute and welcomed can be recognized with Socializer, another tool for admins being tested, with the company providing the example of Socializers in music festival communities being saluted for sharing photos and videos from festivals and motiving others to follow suit. Updates to the Admin Assist tool include the ability for admins to automatically move posts containing information rated as false by third-party fact-checkers into the pending posts folder so they can review those posts prior to taking actions such as deleting them. A new Daily Digest will help group admins review how Admin Assist is working for them with a daily summary of actions taken based on the criteria they set. Finally, Meta is testing an extension to its Flagged by Facebook tool that will let admins of eligible groups use additional context and permit content that might otherwise be flagged for removal as bullying and harassment. The company said a variety of criteria is used to determine groups’ eligibility, including that the admin must not have been the admin of a group that was previously removed. Meta offered as an example, “Through this test, an admin for a group of fish tank enthusiasts could allow a flagged comment that called a fish ‘fatty,’ which was not intended to be offensive.” Community leaders chosen to participate in the 2022 Community Accelerator Program will be revealed at Thursday’s event, and they will receive four months of training, mentorship and funding.

Platforms

Meta Introduces Several New Features for Groups at Facebook Communities Summit

The addition of Reels is aimed at helping members connect on a deeper level

David Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

David Cohen