Meta, in the midst of a major backlash over laying off 8,000 employees, has reportedly debuted a Reddit-style standalone app. Dubbed “Forum”, the platform will work as a discussion platform as a “dedicated space for groups”.
“Forum, a Facebook app” has quietly been published on the Apple App Store without an elaborate blog post or social media announcement. For now, Forum has only been made available for Apple users and Meta claims it is fit for use for individuals aged 13 and above.
Explaining the utility of the platform, Meta said, Forum will allow Facebook users to connect with other real people from relevant communities to discuss trending topics. Forum users will be able to visit their algorithm details to check the topics they have been engaging with on the platform.
A feature called “Ask” on Forum will allow people to ask for opinions, advice or recommendations.
“Your feed is built around conversations from groups. See what real people are saying. Ask pulls together responses from across groups, so you can get answers right away from people who’ve been there and join the conversation,” Meta’s description of Forum said on the App Store.
Source: apps.apple.com
Community admins on Forum will have an AI assistant to help with group management and moderate content. Except for this AI agent, Meta has not outlined other AI-enabled features for Forum despite advertising a major AI pivot as the theme for this year.
The version 1.1 of the platform was published on the App Store.
Described under the “App Privacy” section, Meta said, data including health and fitness, location, financial info, contacts, search history, and sensitive info “may be collected” linked to the users’ identity.
Source: apps.apple.com
The launch of Forum has met with mixed reactions on X. While some have mocked the platform for blatantly copying Reddit’s format, the others have said Meta is trying to drum up engagement for Facebook’s Groups service.
Whether Meta integrates Forum to its other apps like WhatsApp and Instagram remains unclear for now. The timeline for the platform’s availability for Android users as well remains unclear for now.