Facebook Sets New Vision for Next Decade, Looks to Expand Groups -- 2nd Update
June 22 2017 - 06:40PM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is taking another
step toward defining a new vision for the social-media company as
it grapples with its growing power in the world.
Over the next decade, Facebook's focus will be creating tools to
build more community and bring the world closer together -- a shift
from its longtime motto "connect the world."
"I used to think that if we just gave people a voice and helped
them connect, that would make the world a lot better by itself,"
Mr. Zuckerberg said Thursday at an event in Chicago for about 300
leaders of some of Facebook's largest and frequently used groups on
the platform.
"But our society is still divided. Now I believe we have a
responsibility to do even more," he said.
Facebook executives have been contemplating the company's
mission while dealing with several controversies, from criticism
over its perceived role in spreading misinformation during the U.S.
presidential election to its handling of violent live videos posted
on the social network.
Roughly four months ago, Mr. Zuckerberg posted a broad manifesto
positioning Facebook as the world's "social infrastructure." He has
traveled the U.S. to better understand how Facebook, founded in
2004, can help solve some of humanity's biggest problems, from
terrorism to climate change.
Facebook sees expanding Groups, a seven-year-old product that
provides an online forum for people to discuss specific interests,
as key. But the product has largely languished while other company
services, such as Messenger, have racked up hundreds of millions of
users.
Mr. Zuckerberg has said 100 million Facebook users engage in
Groups in a socially meaningful way, and that he wants to increase
such membership to a billion within a few years.
One goal would be to help people build more robust communities
offline, which Mr. Zuckerberg believes would help reverse what he
has said is declining involvement in community anchors such as
schools, neighborhoods and religious institutions.
"Meaningful groups transcend online," Mr. Zuckerberg said in an
interview. "Nothing beats a face-to-face connection" but online
connections can fortify in-person ones, he added.
Facebook is testing a "group-to-group linking" tool so
administrators can recommend similar or related groups to their
members. Facebook said this feature was just the beginning of how
it would help bring "communities and sub-communities closer
together."
Such moves, though, could raise thorny questions about privacy
and Facebook's broadening reach into its users' lives.
Facebook, for example, would have to tread carefully in
suggesting addiction-recovery groups to users, said Ime Archibong,
Facebook's vice president of product partnerships. Another
potential challenge would be an expansion of groups dedicated to
hateful or difficult subject matter.
Executives acknowledged many aspects of the new vision haven't
been hammered out. "This is not about friends and family," said
Chris Cox, Facebook's product chief. "This is about a different
kind of issue, which is finding a common bond. It's one that for
Facebook is less-charted territory."
Facebook outlined a raft of new tools to help people manage
those groups and grow their audience. The company also is exploring
various ways for group administrators to generate revenue from
managing those forums.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2017 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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