At the company's Facebook IRL event in Austin, TX, Facebook revealed new features aimed at attracting young adults to its platform.
Local Tab – Facebook is testing an experience that pulls together local content from across Marketplace, Groups, and Events into a single feed. Local is currently testing in Austin, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Phoenix. This feature looks very promising in regards to helping folks keep up with what's happening in a city, which is information that is currently disjointed across various areas of the platform.
Weekly and Weekend Digest for Events – Facebook is introducing a compilation of upcoming event recommendations in your area based on your interests, delivered each week via a notification within the app.
Explore Tab – A place to find a variety of content tailored to your interests. Meta writes, “Explore is designed to show you content that doesn’t just entertain, but helps you dive deeper into your interests, get inspired by real people and expert communities and take the next step.” Hmm… Isn't that what the main Facebook Feed has supposedly always been for?
Video Tab – This dedicated space for videos features a full-screen player that combines the best of short-form, long-form, and live videos into a single experience. (ie: TikTok)
SMS, E-mail, and Instagram Invites for Events – a way to extend Facebook Events to guests that are not on Facebook. This is a brilliant idea and should have been an option years ago! Facebook used to want to keep its Events coveted for members of its platform, but now it's realizing that Facebook Events are a way to get people to its platform.
Customizable Group AI – to help members of groups find answers to questions that have previously been asked. When a group admin enables this feature, members can open a chat with the group's AI, which can answer questions and link to relevant Group posts. This essentially sounds like an improved group search feature, which has desperately been needed for years.
Matchmaker for Facebook Dating – a new feature that lets you invite up to five friends to swipe for potential matches on your behalf. Great idea! Friends have done that for each other in person for years, and now Facebook is virtualizing the experience.
Messenger Notes Updates – Facebook is adding new functionalities like music and mentions to help spark conversations within the app.
Messenger Communities – a new way for small communities to interact through topic-based chats organized within a larger Messenger Community, without needing to create a Facebook Group. This is similar to the WhatsApp Communities feature that Meta launched in 2022, but likely aimed at US users, who don't use WhatsApp as much.
Wow great updates Meta! I'm thoroughly impressed with the direction that Facebook appears to be headed — as a hub for local and real-world connection — as opposed to a TikTok-clone. Well, the Video Tab can be a TikTok-clone, but the rest of the platform can be useful in ways that old-school Facebook used to be.