Meta quietly released a new Reddit-like app called Forum

Meta has quietly launched a new app called Forum, designed as a dedicated space for Facebook Groups to foster more focused conversations. The app, which appeared without an official announcement, aims to provide users with a Reddit-like experience by emphasizing real answers from real people within their communities. Forum requires users to log in with their Facebook accounts, carrying over their profiles and activity, though it allows for anonymized usernames visible only to group administrators. Unlike the traditional Facebook feed, which aggregates posts from friends, followed Pages, and algorithmically suggested content, Forum’s feed centers exclusively on discussions within a user’s Groups. Upon first login, users are prompted to select topics of interest, enabling the app to recommend posts from other relevant Groups. Content posted in Forum is synchronized with the main Facebook app, allowing seamless conversation flow between both platforms. Forum also incorporates AI features to enhance user experience and group management. The "Ask" function can pull responses from across Groups to answer user questions without manual searching, while an AI-powered admin assistant helps moderators oversee their communities more efficiently. This launch marks Meta’s second attempt at a standalone Groups app, following a previous version discontinued in 2017. Currently, Forum is in a testing phase, with Meta describing it as part of ongoing public experiments to improve user engagement across its apps. The introduction of Forum reflects Meta’s continued efforts to diversify its social media offerings and compete with platforms like Reddit by focusing on community-driven, topic-specific interactions.