Meta has quietly released a new standalone app for Facebook Groups, called “Forum.” The company seems to be positioning Forum as a platform that functions similarly to Reddit, describing the app as a “dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers and communities you care about.”
The app appears to have been first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra.
After you sign in with your Facebook account, Forum will load in your groups, profile and activity, and let you make posts with a nickname, just like on the standard Facebook app. Meta noted that your groups still exist on Facebook, and anything you share on Forum will be visible in your groups on Facebook.
Meta says Forum’s feeds are centered on conversations within groups, allowing users to see “what real people are saying, not just what’s trending,” and making it easy to pick up where they left off.
The app includes an AI-powered “Ask” tab that lets users ask questions and receive answers compiled from discussions across different groups. There’s also an admin AI assistant to help administrators manage groups and moderate content.
This isn’t the first time Meta has launched a standalone app for groups. Back in 2014, the company rolled out a dedicated Groups app that aimed to make it easier for users to share content across groups, but that effort was shuttered in 2017.
Forum is one of two new apps from Meta in recent weeks. Last month, the social media company rolled out a new app called Instants that lets users share disappearing photos with Instagram friends.
Instants and Forum come amid a broader effort at Meta to release more apps. The Wall Street Journal reported a few weeks ago that CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that with AI-driven efficiencies allowing the company to build more apps, the social media giant now aims to roll out many more apps than it has historically.
Referring to Meta’s chief product office Chris Cox, Zuckerberg reportedly said, “So Chris and I have been talking about ‘all right, well can we build 50 new apps?’ Like, yeah probably. But we probably should start by doing a few before we just, like, ramp up trying to do 50 all at once.”
Meta might think consumers want more apps, but that’s likely not the case, especially when its new apps mostly end up being copies of other popular services. Instants, for example, borrows ideas from BeReal and Snapchat, while Meta Edits, launched last year, is largely a copy of ByteDance’s CapCut.
Meta did not immediately return a request for comment.
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