Meta Quietly Released A New Reddit-Like App Called Forum

Meta has launched a new app called Forum without any fanfare or official announcement. Matt Navara of the GeekOut Newsletter has seen Forums in the App Store, where it is described as “a dedicated space for conversations that are created specifically for Facebook groups.” As Navarra notes, Meta is pushing the idea that the app can help users get “real answers” from “real people,” making it seem like it could serve a similar purpose to Reddit.

Users must have a Facebook account to be able to use the forum, and their profile and activity will continue after logging in with their credentials. So it’s not really a website for anonymous conversations like Reddit, but users will be able to use anonymous usernames like they already can on the main Facebook app. The only thing is that administrators will be able to see your real identity.

Unlike the Facebook feed, which shows a collection of posts from a user’s friends, the groups they’re in, the pages they follow, and random posts Facebook’s algorithm thinks they might be interested in, the forum’s feed will feature interactions from their various groups. Since the new app asks users when they first log in what else they’d like to see, however, it will likely also show users posts from other groups that may be more in line with their interests. Anything posted by a user in their groups on the forum will still appear on the main Facebook app, and vice versa, giving users an easier time continuing or starting a conversation from either application.

This isn’t the first time Meta has launched an app focused on groups. When it was known simply as Facebook, the company also released a standalone Groups app, which was eventually retired in 2017. But this new app, like most apps these days, comes with some AI features. The first is “Ask.” Meta says Ask can pull responses across groups to answer a user’s questions, so they don’t have to search their groups one-by-one for the information they need. Another AI feature is an admin assistant that can help moderators manage their groups. When we asked the company about the new app, Meta indicated that the product is currently under testing. “We test a lot of new products publicly to see what people find interesting and useful for their experiences on our apps,” a spokesperson told us.