The US-based social media platform, Facebook has announced a series of updates and new tools for managing Facebook Groups, including features designed to help creators to earn money.
Facebook, which recently changed its name to Meta, said the new feature test was part of its broader paid subscription effort. The social media company is one of the many tech giants that have been working to allure creators and their large followings through payments and new tools.
The social media giant, which in recent years focused on building communities as a tactic to drive engagement on the site, said Group administrators will be able to run eCommerce shops to sell merchandise or create community fundraisers, which could offset the costs of running a Group.
Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, also said that creators would be able to share custom links enabling them to accept payments directly, in a swipe at Apple’s subscription fees. Facebook launched its subscriptions service last year.
During the Communities Summit, the company announced a series of updates to its Groups product. The new features can help to better differentiate one group from another and help to set the tone for the group and its culture, Facebook said.
The subgroups feature, which can be free or paid, would allow members to split off for specific topics, regions or occasions. These subgroups can be managed in one place and give people a way to have side discussions without cluttering up the main group’s feed.
Further, Group administrators would get tools to customize their group’s appearance and members would soon be able to give “community awards” for valuable posts. This will allow admins to encourage and reward members for their positive participation in the group by anointing select posts with accolades.
Facebook Groups have been under scrutiny from lawmakers and researchers who argue that they give closed spaces for health misinformation, violent rhetoric and extremism to proliferate without being properly managed.
