Member-only story
The Pivot to Groups Poses a Major Challenge for Facebook
A viral ‘boomer’ group floods news feeds while moderators struggle to keep up
“If it’s lit AF, drop a yeet here fam,” reads the first post on my Facebook news feed. It’s been taken over by a pair of dueling groups dedicated to mocking the yawning generation gap between baby boomers and millennials. This is one glimpse at the future Facebook wants: A social experience built not around the largely public news feed, but around people organizing in semiprivate groups.
The idea is to give users more reasons to return to Facebook, beyond the unending flood of content from random publishers, random “friends,” and random friends of friends in their news feeds. In April, the company announced that it was going to redesign its service around two of its most popular features, groups and events, in an effort to emphasize more “meaningful” communication. (You may have noticed a new tab on the Facebook mobile app that contains a feed solely of posts from the groups you’re in.) Then, in May, the company changed its news feed algorithm to prioritize posts from your groups.
The message is clear: sharing junky videos with everyone you’re connected to is out. Hanging out in closed groups with like-minded people is in. Which brings us to the mega-viral “A group where…
