Meta launches Forum, a new app for Facebook Groups

Forum, Meta’s new standalone app for Facebook Groups, is built around deeper discussions, real answers and communities users care about.

The app was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra. After signing in with a Facebook account, users will see their groups, profile and activity, and can post under a nickname, as on the standard Facebook app.

Meta says groups still exist on Facebook, and anything shared on Forum will be visible in those groups on Facebook. Its feeds focus on conversations within groups and are designed to show “what real people are saying, not just what’s trending,” while also making it easy to pick up where users left off.

An AI-powered “Ask” tab lets users ask questions and get answers compiled from discussions across different groups. The app also includes an admin AI assistant to help administrators manage groups and moderate content.

Forum is not Meta’s first standalone app for groups. In 2014, the company launched a dedicated Groups app meant to make it easier for users to share content across groups, but that effort was shuttered in 2017.

It is one of two new apps Meta has released in recent weeks. Last month, the company rolled out Instants, an app that lets users share disappearing photos with Instagram friends.

The two apps 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 AI-driven efficiencies would allow the company to build more apps, and that 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 did not immediately return a request for comment. The company 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 borrows ideas from BeReal and Snapchat, while Meta Edits, launched last year, is largely a copy of ByteDance’s CapCut.