Meta Quietly Launches 'Forum,' a Standalone Facebook Groups App - MacRumors
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Meta Quietly Launches 'Forum,' a Standalone Facebook Groups App

Meta today launched a new standalone app called "Forum" that brings Facebook Groups into a dedicated feed separate from the main Facebook experience.

Facebook Feature
The app was spotted by Matt Navarra without any formal announcement from the company. Its App Store listing describes Forum as "a dedicated space for the conversations that matter most to you," built for the groups users already belong to and those they have yet to discover.

Forum's feed surfaces conversations from a user's existing Groups instead of mixing them with posts from friends, Pages, and algorithmically recommended content. When logging in for the first time, users are asked what they want to see more of, suggesting the app will also surface posts from other Groups aligned with their interests. Any post made through Forum syncs back to the main Facebook app, and vice versa.

Users will need an existing Facebook account to sign in. The app supports anonymized usernames for public interactions, similar to the option already available on Facebook, though group administrators can still see the real identities behind those accounts.

Two AI features are available in Forum. The first, called "Ask," is said to pull answers from across a user's Groups so they don't have to search each community individually. The second is an AI-powered assistant for group moderators to help manage administrative tasks.

This is not ‌Meta‌'s first attempt at a standalone Groups product. The company launched a dedicated Facebook Groups app years ago before discontinuing it in 2017.

A comparison to Reddit has been drawn given the app's focus on niche community discussions, real-people recommendations, and question-and-answer style content. Forum is available on the App Store now.

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Top Rated Comments

12 weeks ago
It’s going to be difficult to continue to not use any Meta product now that yet another one must be avoided, but I’ll do my best. Good luck to the rest of you.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yanki01 Avatar
12 weeks ago

I haven’t used Facebook groups in a while. Are they all full of bots?
Very much so. I'm a Mod in a few large ones and it's constant banning of them. It's also alarming how many people fall for them.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
12 weeks ago
I know we all hate Meta, myself included, but probably a good move.

The title of this post should read, "Meta Quietly Launches 'Forum,' a Standalone Reddit Competitor". That's all this is about because facebook's algorithmic feed is terrible for group/community content which needs to be chronological.

The only thing I open Facebook for these days I to access the few boomer run groups I am part of, so this is actually might allow me to finally delete Facebook and just have this app.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
12 weeks ago

It’s going to be difficult to continue to not use any Meta product now that yet another one must be avoided, but I’ll do my best. Good luck to the rest of you.
I just need some competitor to take the local buy/sell crown from Facebook Marketplace and then I won't feel any FOMO from not being on Meta anymore.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
11 weeks ago
Will they release another one with just the posts from your friends and family, and none of the other garbage? They could call it 'Facebook'.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nostaws Avatar
12 weeks ago
How about a stand alone marketplace app?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)